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MEXICO 


In  Preparation 


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A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO.,  Chicago 


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Cfie  ftcaorlD  €o*Dap  Series 

RUSSIA 

IN  EUROPE  AND  ASIA 


BY 

JOSEPH    KING    GOODRICH 

Sometime  Professor  in  the  Imperial 
Government  College,  Kyoto 


WITH   $$    ILLUSTRATIONS   FROM 
PHOTOGRAPHS 


a      '     '  - 


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CHICAGO 
A.    C.   McCLURG    &   CO. 

IQI2 


COPYRIGHT,  1912 
BY  THE  PLIMPTON  PRESS 


PUBLISHED  OCTOBER,  I912 


Copyright  in  England 

ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


THE- PLIMPTON' PRESS 

[  W  D  •  O] 
NORWOOD  •  MASS  •  U  •  S  ■  A. 


PREFACE 

THERE  is  an  enormous  amount  of  literature  at  the 
disposal  of  the  student  of  Russian  affairs;  and  yet 
there  is  really  very  little  which  satisfies  one  who  wishes  to 
get  a  comprehensive  glance  at  the  whole  empire  in  its  many 
and  various  aspects.  Hare's  "Studies  in  Russia,"  prepared 
in  1886,  but  republished  as  lately  as  1904,  is  still  the  only 
book  of  its  kind,  and  the  author  is  so  well  known  for  his  other 
reliable  volumes  of  a  similar  character  that  one  may  safely 
depend  upon  him.  But  naturally  this  particular  book  is 
altogether  inadequate  now.  It  does  not  even  cover  the  whole 
territory  of  Russia  in  Europe.  Since  Hare  wrote  his  admi- 
rable descriptions  of  a  few  cities  and  of  some  of  the  famous 
cathedrals,  churches,  palaces,  and  other  famous  buildings, 
considerable  changes  have  taken  place. 

There  are  many  cities  and  towns  that  now  attract  the 
visitor,  but  for  which  no  thoroughly  satisfactory  guidebook 
is  available.  Even  the  cities  that  Hare  thought  he  was 
discussing  fairly  exhaustively  have  grown  and  developed  in 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  until  he  himself  would  now  scarcely 
recognise  them.  For  example,  the  town  of  RostofI  is  a  place 
that  deserves  a  visit,  but  there  is  no  satisfactory  description 
of  it  available  to  the  English  reader.  There  are  a  number  of 
others  which  are  historically  or  archaeologically  most  interest- 
ing, and  the  towns  that  have  developed  greatly  as  industrial 
centres  are  not  yet  sufficiently  known  through  the  medium 
of  a  guidebook. 

Siberia  has  changed  so  much  in  the  last  five  or  six  years 
that  Gerrare's  "  Greater  Russia,"  frequently  mentioned 
in  the  following  pages,  is  now  almost  obsolete,  so  far  as  the 
important  trans-Siberian  Railway  and  internal  improve- 
ments are  concerned.    Of  Russia's  Central  Asian  possessions 


259589 


VI  PREFACE 

there  is  nothing  available  which  is  completely  satisfactory, 
and  I  fear  there  cannot  be  until  great  changes  take  place 
in  Russian  ways  of  guarding  her  outlying  "protectorates" 
from  inquisitive  strangers. 

The  great  deal  that  is  not  included  in  the  chapters  may  be 
supplied  by  making  use  of  the  bibliography  given  at  the  end 
of  this  volume.  It  will  be  found  that,  after  all,  so  far  as  the 
Russian  people  are  concerned,  and  as  the  interesting  customs 
of  the  land  appeal  to  us,  we  cannot  do  much  better  than  to 
depend  upon  the  narratives  and  descriptions  of  the  old 
authorities,  Clarke,  Haxthausen,  Wallace,  and  several  others. 
There  is  so  much  that  is  still  refreshing  and  illuminating  in 
their  books,  that,  for  the  topics  they  discuss,  we  cannot  do 
better  than  turn  to  them. 

To  condense  into  one  little  volume  the  size  of  this,  some- 
thing even  approximating  to  an  account  of  the  great  Russian 
Empire,  or  Siberia  alone,  is  a  very  audacious  thing  to  attempt, 
and  I  trust  the  many  imperfections  may  be  considered  chari- 
tably. One  great  difficulty  that  has  constantly  faced  me  is 
the  instability  of  conditions  in  those  parts  of  Asia  wherein 
Russia  is  an  important  factor.  Even  while  writing,  the 
changes  which  are  taking  place,  and  others  that  must  be 
considered  more  than  mere  possibilities,  present  a  difficulty 
that  is  discouraging  to  an  author. 

J.  K.  G. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    Introductory i 

II.     Russia  in  Europe:  The  Beginning  of  the 

Empire 12 

III.  The  Government  of  all  the  Russias    .  18 

IV.  Development  and  Growth       ....  33 
V.     Eastward  to  the  Pacific 49 

VI.     Physical  Russia:   Europe  and  Asia  .     .  64 

VII.    The  People 77 

VEIL    The  Cities  and  Towns 94 

IX.     By  Post  and   Passenger  Train   across 

Asia  and  Russia 112 

X.    The  Wealth  of  Siberia 130 

XL    Colonisation 146 

XII.    Exiles  and  Convicts 161 

XIII.  Siberia  and  her  Neighbours  .     .     .     .  175 

XIV.  Siberia  and  the  Far  East       .     .     .      .  187 
XV.    Russia  in  Central  Asia 203 

XVI.    Russia  and  India 213 

XVII.    Diplomacy  and  Political  History     .      .  227 

XVIII.     Religion  and  Education 248 

XIX.     Flora  and  Fauna 265 

XX.     Conclusion 273 

Bibliography 283 

Index 293 


Vll 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


General  View  of  Moscow Frontispiece 

jacmg  page 

Fortress  of  S.S.  Peter  and  Paul,  St.  Petersburg     .  12 

A  Wealthy  Peasant ..  22 

A  Cathedral  Dean 22 

The  Winter  Palace,  St.  Petersburg 30 

The  Bourse,  St.  Petersburg 30 

Group   of   Peasant    Women,   TamborT    Government, 

Central  Russia 50 

Troitska,  Travelling  Carriage 58 

Religious  Procession,  Nevsky  Prospekt,  St. » Petersburg  58 

Church  cf  the  Resurrection,  St.  Petersburg       ...  74 

Nevsky  Prospekt,  St.  Petersburg 94 

The  Big  Cannon,  Kremlin,  Moscow 98 

Alexander  II  Monument,  Moscow 98 

The  Kremlin,  Moscow 100 

A  "  Cabby" 104 

A  Street  Pedler 104 

Market  Place,  Moscow 120 

City  Hall,  Moscow 120 

Peter  the  Great's  Monument,  St.  Petersburg  .      .      .  138 

Church  of  St.  Basil,  Moscow 156 

La  Place  Rouge,  Moscow:  Kremlin  wall,  Church  of 

St.  Basil  the  Beatified 166 

The  Kremlin,  Moscow,  from  Moskva  River     .      .      .  174 

Peter  the  Great's  Palace,  Moscow 174 

Kazan  Cathedral,  St.  Petersburg 184 

Inside  the  Kremlin,  Moscow.     Gate  of  the  Redeemer  194 

ix 


X  ILLUSTRATIONS 

facing  page 

Inside  the  Kremlin,  Moscow.     Tower  of  Ivan  Veliki, 

Tsar  Kolokol  (the  great  bell) 194 

The    Bourse   Lighthouse,   Neva   River,    St.   Peters- 
burg      214 

Place  de  Marie,  St.  Petersburg 214 

St.  Saviour,  Moscow 224 

Kremlin  Wall,  Moscow          ...      1      ....  224 

The  Winter  Palace,  Neva  Front,  St.  Petersburg    .      .  234 

The  National  Academy,  St.  Petersburg       ....  240 

Types  of  Stranniki 256 


RUSSIA 

IN   EUROPE  AND   ASIA 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTORY 

I  WRITE  of  Russia  with  only  the  kindest  feelings 
for  the  people  of  that  country.  In  the  intercourse 
which  I  have  had  with  thousands  of  Russians  of  all 
classes,  from  nobleman  to  peasant,  and  in  the  association 
with  a  goodly  number  between  whom  and  myself  the 
line,  so  difficult  to  trace  or  to  define,  that  marks  the 
change  from  mere  acquaintance  to  actual  friendship,  has 
been  crossed,  I  have  received  for  myself  personally  and 
for  my  family  nothing  but  kindness,  and  kindness  of 
that  pleasing  sort  which  springs  forth  spontaneously, 
without  a  trace  or  hint  of  any  expectation  of  being 
requited  in  kind.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  during  the 
months  we  were  in  the  Tsar's  domains,  wandering  about 
from  the  Pacific  coast  to  the  German  frontier,  there  was 
never  an  attempt  to  cheat  or  to  take  an  unfair  advantage 
of  us  as  strangers ;  but  the  demand  for  treble  the  lawful 
fee  by  a  railway  porter  at  Vladivostok;  the  overcharge 
of  two  cents  in  the  price  of  a  quart  of  milk  made  by  a 
peasant  woman  somewhere  along  the  line  of  the  Siberian 
Railway,  far  east  of  Lake  Baikal;  the  successful  bit  of 
" bunco"  work  by  an  army  officer  at  Irkutsk,  which  is 
narrated  in  a  later  chapter,  wherein  I  shall  tell  of  our 


2        RUSS'A.    TN-SUROPE     AND     ASIA 

trip  by  the  railway;  and  perhaps  one  or  two  other 
trifling  episodes,  really  count  for  nothing;  they  can  be 
matched  by  the  daily  experience  of  almost  any  one  of  us 
in  our  intercourse  with  our  own  people. 

Even  at  the  hotels,  when  we  knew  we  were  being  over- 
charged, it  was  not  true  Russians  who  cheated  us,  but 
someone  who,  racially  or  nationally,  was  almost  as  much 
of  a  stranger  as  we  were.  When  in  the  hands  of  Russian 
pension  proprietors  and  the  like,  I  do  not  recall  a  single 
effort  to  take  advantage  of  us.  I  here  assert  my  con- 
viction that  the  statement,  so  often  made,  that  one  can 
do  nothing  in  Russia  without  bribing  somebody,  is  not 
borne  out  by  our  experience;  while  the  modest  "tips" 
that  were  received  with  the  smile  and  words  of  thanks 
which  denote  entire  satisfaction,  would  make  some 
people  blush  with  shame  for  offering  them,  and  in  America 
would  be  rejected  with  scorn.  If  I  find  myself  called 
upon  to  condemn  a  good  deal  in  the  treatment  to  which 
the  Russian  Government  subjects  its  own  people,  and, 
at  times,  the  stranger  that  is  within  its  gates,  it  is  only 
what  many  another  writer  has  done  before  me  and 
probably  will  continue  to  do  until  the  millennium  comes, 
with  more  venom  than  shall  flow  from  my  pen. 

I  think  I  may  safely  and  accurately  adopt  an  English- 
man's declaration,  changing  the  words  of  the  figure  to 
make  it  apply  to  ourselves  —  I  mean  my  country  and 
my  fellow-citizens  —  and  say  that  the  Russians  love 
the  Americans,  but  they  are  too  apt  to  hate  America. 
That  is  true,  I  think.  As  individuals,  they  find  us  com- 
panionable, liberal,  sympathetic,  and  appreciative;  as 
representatives  of  a  government  so  diametrically  opposed 
to  their  own  ideals,  they  cannot  bring  themselves  to 
approve   of  us   whole-heartedly,   and,  really  —  all  the 


INTRODUCTORY  3 

existing  conditions  carefully  considered  —  it  is  almost 
too  much  to  expect  them  to  do  so. 

Experience  has  taught  me  that  it  is  well  to  declare 
what  qualifications  one  has  for  writing  such  a  book  as 
this.  In  Nagasaki,  Japan,  while  interpreter  in  our 
consulate,  and  frequently  called  upon  to  act  as  deputy 
consul,  I  had,  for  nearly  a  year  in  1898  and  1899,  seen  a 
good  deal  of  the  Russian  sojourners  and  visitors,  most 
of  the  latter  naval  officers,  and  I  had  talked  freely  with 
them  about  Russian  aims  and  ambitions  in  the  Far  East. 
My  first  direct  acquaintance  with  Russia  and  the  people 
of  that  interesting  country,  at  home,  was  made  in  the 
summer  of  1899,  when  I  took  a  trip  along  the  east  coast 
of  Korea  and  into  the  Maritime  Province  of  Siberia, 
having  my  headquarters  at  Vladivostok. 

This  experience  was  a  revelation  indeed.  We  were 
travelling  by  a  Japanese  steamer,  all  the  crew  being 
Japanese  except  the  chief  engineer  (a  Scotchman,  of 
course),  and  we  seemed  to  be,  as  we  were,  in  the  Far 
Orient  when  we  turned  the  point  which  separates  the 
outer  from  the  inner  harbour  of  Vladivostok.  Then  the 
East  vanished  almost  entirely  and  we  were  in  Europe; 
at  least,  we  could  easily  have  imagined  ourselves  to  be 
had  we  closed  our  ears  to  the  chattering  Japanese  about 
us  on  the  deck.  In  the  sea,  outside,  we  had  seen  a 
number  of  Chinese  fishing-boats,  so  that  the  impressions 
of  the  East  were  then  still  with  us;  but  now  these  were 
all  gone.  Before  us  lay  a  town  that  bore  no  resemblance 
to  those  of  Korea,  Japan,  or  China.  The  buildings  were, 
for  the  most  part,  substantial;  there  was  just  enough  of 
the  Near  East  about  the  architecture  of  the  cathedral 
and  some  of  the  public  buildings  to  make  us  realise  that 
we  were  in  Russia,  and  the  whole  atmosphere  was  totally 


4        RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

different  from  what  we  had  seen  at  Fusan,  Gensan,  or 
other  Korean  ports  and  cities,  and,  of  course,  it  was 
something  quite  opposite  to  what  we  had  left  in  Japan 
less  than  a  week  before.  During  that  visit  to  Eastern 
Siberia  I  saw  something  of  the  way  the  Russians  were 
bearing  themselves  towards  the  Koreans,  and  I  heard  a 
good  deal  more,  nearly  all  of  which  pleased  me.  It  was 
thoroughly  in  harmony  with  what  I  had  learnt  to  look 
for  in  the  attitude  which  the  Russians  assume  towards 
those  whom  they  would  like  to  absorb  or  annex,  and  even 
towards  the  conquered  peoples  of  Asia.  About  this  I 
shall  speak  at  some  length  later.  It  was  entirely  con- 
sistent with  the  expansion  plan  generally;  for  it  must  be 
admitted  by  all  save  the  most  prejudiced  observers  that 
Russia  has  succeeded  remarkably  in  making  some  of  her 
best  friends  among  the  wild  tribes  of  Central  and  Western 
Asia,  some  of  whom  have  been  absorbed  willingly  or 
unwillingly,  others  of  whom  she  has  subdued,  not  unfre- 
quently,  by  means  which  cannot  be  described  by  any 
gentler  term  than  " harsh." 

There  was,  however,  no  evidence  of  harshness  in  the 
treatment  which  the  Russian  officials  of  the  Maritime 
Province  were  giving  those  Koreans  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  ago.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  characterised  by 
extreme  gentleness  and  consideration  for  their  moral, 
physical,  and  industrial  welfare,  and  it  was  reaping  its 
own  reward.  Along  the  middle  and  lower  stretches  of 
the  Tuman  River,  the  boundary  between  Russian  posses- 
sions and  Korea,  there  were  a  goodly  number  of  little 
villages  of  Koreans,  who  had  come  across  the  border 
and  put  themselves  under  Russian  protection.  These 
people  were  being  helped  to  make  homes  for  themselves. 
There  was  not  that  mistaken  generosity  in  gratuitously 


INTROD UC  T  O  R Y  5 

thrusting  upon  those  whom  we  would  truly  aid,  materials 
and  assistance  —  an  unwise  course  that  too  frequently 
tends  to  pauperise ;  but  help  and  direction  were  so  wisely 
given  that  a  new  spirit  of  admirable  independence  was 
being  infused  into  the  Koreans  —  something  they  had 
never  before  dreamt  of. 

They  were  being  taught  a  good  deal  of  wise  husbandry 
and  the  care  of  cattle,  although  of  the  latter  occupation 
they  had  not  been  altogether  ignorant,  even  while  yet 
in  their  native  homes.  Implements  and  seeds  were 
provided  on  reasonable  terms,  and  instruction  was  given 
by  competent  farmers  and  stockmen.  Then  —  and 
probably  this  was  the  best  thing  of  all  —  in  each  village 
or  hamlet  there  was  a  church  and  a  resident  priest  of  the 
Orthodox  Greek  Church,  who  was,  in  every  sense  of 
the  word,  as  here  used,  a  father  to  his  little  flock. 
He  looked  after  their  physical  ailments  in  a  simple 
way  (there  was  always  an  army  surgeon  within  easy 
call  if  something  serious  happened);  he  was  giving  the 
rudiments,  at  least,  of  education;  he  was  always  ready 
to  second  the  efforts  of  the  practical  men  who  were 
trying  to  make  those  Korean  peasants  independent; 
and  his  special,  personal  ministrations  were  bearing 
good  fruit. 

The  result  of  these  combined  efforts,  as  I  saw  it  then, 
was  happy,  and  I  honestly  considered  that  no  better 
missionaries  could  be  sent  into  Northern  Korea  than 
those  returning  farmers,  who  had  received  so  much  from 
their  Russian  pastors  and  lay  teachers.  I  thought,  at 
the  time,  that  Korea  could  not  fare  badly  if  Russia  were 
permitted  to  annex  the  peninsula  and  thus  solve  the 
problem,  to  her  so  important,  of  securing  an  ice-free 
harbour  on  the  Pacific. 


6        RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

When,  however,  Russian  ambition  as  to  China  asserted 
itself  after  the  Boxer  episode  in  1900,  and  her  aggres- 
siveness became  greater  after  securing  the  eviction  of 
Japan  from  the  Liaotung  Peninsula,  and  when  she  had 
unmistakably  indicated  her  determination  to  push  her 
trespass  in  Manchuria  to  absolutely  illegal,  unjustifiable 
bounds,  my  feelings  underwent  a  change,  and  I  was 
strongly  sympathetic  for  Japan.  Again  I  was  deceived 
by  false  pretences.  Since  1905  there  have  been  two 
trespassers  upon  Chinese  territory;  and  since  Korea 
became  a  part  of  the  Japanese  Empire,  the  fate  of  the 
poor  Koreans  is  worse  than  ever  it  was.  Now,  I  feel 
that  it  would  have  been  better  had  the  United  States 
stood  heroically  and  honestly  by  her  treaties  with  Korea, 
and  sustained  against  Russian,  Japanese,  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  world  the  independence  of  the  "  Hermit 
Kingdom." 

In  1903  it  was  my  privilege  to  be  with  the  Russian 
Minister  to  Japan,  Baron  Rosen,  during  the  whole  of 
that  anxious  summer.  His  family  and  mine  were  stay- 
ing at  Kanaya  Hotel,  Nikko,  and  I  may  interpolate 
here  that  we  preferred  the  independence  of  the  hotel  to 
the  responsibility  of  cottage  life.  But  Baron  Rosen  did 
not  dare  occupy  his  cottage,  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Chiu- 
zenji,  eight  miles  farther  up  in  the  mountains,  because 
the  Japanese  Secret  Service  had  warned  him  that  to  do 
so  was  unsafe,  sundry  plans  to  blow  up  the  cottage  by 
hot-headed  Russophobists  having  been  discovered  or 
suspected.  I  cannot  say  that  His  Excellency  discussed 
any  diplomatic  secrets  with  me,  or  that  his  confidence 
ever  passed  beyond  the  limit  of  friendly  intercourse; 
but  the  baron  has  always  had  a  soft  spot  in  his  heart 
for  our  country,  ever  since  I  first  knew  him  years  ago 


INTRODUCTORY  7 

when  he  was  just  a  Secretary  of  Legation  at  Washington, 
and  probably  he  did  talk  rather  more  freely  with  me  than 
he  might  have  done  with  some  others.  At  any  rate,  I 
learnt  a  good  deal  of  Russia's  ambitions  as  to  Eastern 
and  Central  Asia.  Some  of  this  knowledge  did  not  please 
me,  as,  for  instance,  when  it  slipped  out  that  Russia  felt 
called  upon  to  push  southward  in  order  to  try  to  counter- 
act British  influence  along  the  Yangtze  and  in  Central 
China,  and  that  she  viewed  with  dissatisfaction  the 
growing  strength  of  American  influence  in  China  gener- 
ally. I  was  convinced,  however,  that  Baron  Rosen  was 
honestly  and  strenuously  trying  his  best  to  avert  war 
between  his  country  and  Japan ;  but  I  realised  that  while 
he  had  no  great  difficulty  in  assuring  the  Japanese  Foreign 
Office  of  the  sincerity  of  his  efforts,  he  was  absolutely 
unable  to  make  his  own  Government  believe  that  Japan 
was  really  in  earnest  about  going  to  war  to  try  to  drive 
Russia  out  of  Manchuria,  or  that  she  was  any  better 
prepared  to  fight  than  was  Russia  herself.  That  the 
Russian  Tsar  and  his  advisers  looked  with  a  calm  smile 
—  somewhat  contemptuously,  I  feared  —  upon  all  that 
Japanese  bluster  and  bravado,  was  made  entirely 
apparent. 

Ere  long  the  war  came,  and  soon  to  my  place  of 
temporary,  although  lengthy,  sojourn,  Kyoto,  there 
were  sent  a  number  of  the  Russian  prisoners;  and  from 
some  of  these,  whom  I  was  glad  to  entertain  in  my  own 
home  as  much  as  I  could  be  permitted  to  do  by  the  rules 
which  controlled  their  movements,  I  learnt  more  of 
Russian  ambition  and  determination  to  push  on  and  on 
in  Asia.  I  also  picked  up  some  odd  bits  of  information 
about  the  frightful  corruption  in  the  Russian  army  and 
navy. 


8        RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

In  1 910  I  made  the  journey  right  across  Siberia  and 
Russia  in  Europe  by  post  train.  This  was  an  experience 
vastly  different  from  crossing  the  continents,  Asia  and 
half  of  Europe,  by  one  of  the  cosmopolitan  express  trains. 
I  was  brought  into  contact  every  hour  with  some  new 
phase  of  Russian  civilisation:  I  met  all  sorts  and  condi- 
tions of  men  and  women.  True,  there  was  not  often 
great  freedom  of  conversation,  because  few  of  my  fellow- 
travellers,  and  fewer  of  the  people  who  were  at  the 
stations  where  we  stayed  a  long  time,  were  able  to  con- 
verse in  any  language  but  their  own,  and  in  that  I  have 
no  fluency  of  speech.  Still,  now  and  then,  I  met  some- 
one who  could  talk  with  me  in  German;  less  frequently 
(although  this  surprised  me  then  and  I  am  sure  it  will 
astonish  my  readers)  there  was  somebody  who  could 
speak  French.  Save  when  talking  with  my  wife  and 
children,  I  did  not  once  hear  proper  English  from  Vladi- 
vostok to  Moscow. 

But  in  various  ways  I  gathered,  during  the  fifteen  days' 
journey  from  Japan  to  Moscow,  a  good  deal  of  informa- 
tion, and  I  always  kept  my  eyes  open  from  early  in  the 
summer  mornings  until  bedtime.  In  Russia  proper  I 
wandered  up  and  down  through  the  land,  from  Chelia- 
binsk,  in  the  southeast,  to  the  capital  in  the  far  north, 
and  then  back  again  until  we  passed  into  German  terri- 
tory at  Eydtkunnen,  east  of  Konigsberg.  It  was  both 
fortunate  and  unfortunate  that  my  visit  was  made  in 
the  summer:  fortunate  in  that  I  could  see  more  of  places 
and  learn  more  of  the  life  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes 
in  that  season;  unfortunate  because  the  gentry  were 
almost  all  away  from  the  cities  and  there  was  absolutely 
nothing  of  social  gaiety.  For  it  is  true  that  if  one  wishes 
to  study  life  among  the  ruling   classes  of   Russia,  he 


INTRODUCTORY  9 

must  visit  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  and  all  the  other  cities 
in  the  winter.  The  bitter  cold  and  the  deep  snow  are  the 
stimuli  which  bring  that  life  to  its  greatest  animation. 

It  seems  to  be  an  opportune  time  to  offer  a  little  vol- 
ume about  Russia,  and  especially  about  Russia  in  Asia, 
because  present  indications  are  that  this  year,  191 2,  is 
likely  to  bring  about  yet  further  changes  in  the  political 
geography  of  western  and,  possibly ,  northern  Central  Asia. 
Indeed,  it  is  hardly  self-praise  to  say  that  at  least  a  part 
of  the  danger  which  I  mentioned  in  " The  Coming  China" 
is  in  a  fair  way  to  become  an  accomplished  fact,  to 
China's  great  prejudice;  and  it  is  not  China  alone  that 
is  likely  to  suffer  at  Russia's  hands,  for  Russia  bids  fair 
to  add  a  considerable  slice  of  Persia  to  her  domain,  if 
not  the  whole  of  the  northern  part  of  that  country. 

The  thought  asserts  itself  with  some  persistence,  that 
Russia  has  deliberately  chosen  a  presidential  election 
year  for  carrying  out  her  plans,  assuming  that  our 
Government  and  people  will  be  so  much  engrossed  at 
home  as  to  be  unable  to  give  proper  attention  to  their 
duty  towards  the  people  of  those  Asiatic  countries; 
to  one  of  which,  China,  we  have  plainly  indicated  a 
willingness  to  lend  moral  support,  and  have  evinced  at 
least  a  semblance  of  friendly  interest  in  the  other,  Persia. 
If  this  surmise  proves  to  be  grounded  on  fact,  it  will  be 
just  one  more  demonstration  of  the  wiliness  of  Russian 
diplomacy  and  aggressive  ways.  We  were  goaded  on 
by  Russia's  contemptuous  refusal  to  acknowledge  the 
rights  of  those  whom  we  have  adopted,  and  others,  native 
born,  and  by  her  insolent  ignoring  of  a  passport  which 
should  carry  with  it  everything  that  the  term  "American 
citizen"  stands  for.  When  endurance  ceased  to  be  any 
longer  a  virtue,  we  notified  Russia  that  the  treaty  of 


IO      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

1832  would  be  abrogated  at  the  end  of  this  year.  So  far 
as  Russia  was  concerned,  on  our  part  we  had  lived  up 
faithfully  to  the  obligations  of  that  treaty :  not  so  Russia. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  Russian  view  of  the 
American  Jew's  position;  that  subject  will  be  referred 
to  later.  We  must,  however,  admit,  if  we  are  perfectly 
fair,  that  there  is  a  Russian  side  to  the  question,  and  one 
that  gives  to  the  Government  and  the  non- Jewish  peoples 
of  Russia  a  great  deal  of  serious  trouble.  Perhaps  it 
was  a  political  and  diplomatic  mistake  for  our  Govern- 
ment and  national  legislators  to  yield  just  at  this  time 
to  the  reasonable  demand  of  a  large  part  of  our  people 
and  insist  upon  demanding  that  due  respect  be  shown 
every  American  citizen;  but  it  was  worse  than  a  mistake 
for  Russia  to  take  advantage  of  it. 

After  having  travelled  extensively  in  Russian  terri- 
tories, and  having  had  some  opportunity  to  discuss  many 
problems  with  which  that  Government  is  compelled  to 
deal,  with  men  and  women  of  various  ranks  in  society, 
diplomats,  army  and  navy  officers,  statesmen,  government 
officials,  merchants,  and  others  who  are  not  to  be  exactly 
included  in  any  of  these  classes,  I  feel  that  I  have  a  reason- 
able qualification  for  the  task  I  have  taken  upon  myself. 

I  stand  amazed  when  I  think  of  what  Russia  seems  to 
be  determined  to  accomplish  in  the  matter  of  territorial 
expansion.  If  the  design  of  exercising  "  protectorate " 
rights  over  those  Chinese  semi-detached  states,  Mongolia, 
Dzungaria,  and  East  Turkestan  is  carried  out,  and  if 
she  carries  into  the  fullest  execution  the  plan  that  is 
rapidly  assuming  definite  shape  in  Persia,  where  and 
when  will  she  stop?  Will  she  rest  content  with  pushing 
her  sphere  of  influence  (never  was  there  a  more  specious 
term  than  this,  as  used  in  this  context!)  to  meet  the 


INTRODUCTORY  II 

Chinese  boundary  along  the  southern  edge  of  Mongolia 
and  from  the  west  until  she  has  driven  back  the  Chinese 
into  the  eighteen  provinces  of  China  proper?  Does 
Russia,  as  it  has  been  pithily,  if  rather  vulgarly  expressed, 
intend  to  own  the  whole  earth?  Russian  "protection" 
has  rarely  meant  anything  but  permanent  occupation, 
and  it  is  not  even  probable  that  there  will  be  exceptions 
in  these  particular  cases;  for  the  declaration  of  Tsar 
Nicholas  I,  made  in  1846,  "  where  the  Russian  flag  has 
been  hoisted  it  must  not  be  lowered,"  will  doubtless  be 
lived  up  to  in  these  countries.  The  land  area  of  the 
earth  is,  in  rough  round  numbers,  fifty  million  square 
miles.  When  Russia  has  brought  about  this  expansion 
which  is  manifestly  on  the  cards,  that  empire  will  be 
something  over  ten  million  square  miles  in  area,  more 
than  one  fifth  of  the  total  land  on  this  globe,  and  con- 
siderably more  than  one  half  of  the  combined  areas  of 
Europe  (3,760,000  sq.  mis.)  and  Asia  (16,313,000).  The 
forward  movement  in  Persia  will  bring  the  Russian  and 
British  spheres  of  influence  practically  into  juxtaposition, 
and  this  fact  adds  poignancy  to  the  remark  of  the  Hon. 
George  N.  Curzon  (now  Baron  Curzon  of  Kedleston), 
who  in  1889,  the  year  before  he  was  appointed  Viceroy 
of  India,  said:  "Whatever  be  Russia's  designs  upon 
India,  whether  they  be  serious  and  inimical  or  imaginary 
and  fantastic,  I  hold  that  the  first  duty  of  English 
statesmen  is  to  render  any  hostile  intentions  futile,  to 
see  that  our  own  position  is  secure,  and  our  frontier 
impregnable,  and  so  to  guard  what  is  without  doubt  the 
noblest  trophy  of  British  genius,  and  the  most  splendid 
appanage  of  the  Imperial  Crown."  * 

*"  Russia  in  Central  Asia  in  1889  and  the  Anglo-Russian  Question." 
Hon.  George  N.  Curzon,  M.  P.,  second  ed.,  pp.  13  and  14. 


CHAPTER  II 

RUSSIA  IN  EUROPE:   THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE 

EMPIRE 

THE  Empire  of  All  the  Russias  is  now  ruled  by 
Nicholas  II,  Emperor  of  All  the  Russias;  the 
official  style  of  designating  him  is  "imperator,"  which  is 
rendered  in  Russian  by  Gosudar,  but  properly  the  old 
Russian  title  is  Tsar.  This  is  really  the  correct  way  to 
transliterate  the  Russian  word,  although  the  variants 
Tzar  and  Czar  are  frequently  employed.  He  was  born 
May  18,  1868,*  and  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Tsar 
Alexander  III.  His  mother  was  the  Princess  Dagmar 
(Maria  Feodorovna),  a  daughter  of  the  late  King 
Christian  IX,  of  Denmark.  Nicholas  ascended  the 
throne  upon  the  death  of  his  father,  November  1,  1894, 
and  was  married  on  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  the  same 
month  to  Princess  Alexandra  Alix  (Alexandra  Feodor- 
ovna), a  daughter  of  Ludwig  IV,  Grand  Duke  of  Hesse. 
This  princess  was  born  June  6,  1872.  The  children  born 
of  this  marriage  are  Grand  Duchess  Olga,  November  15, 
1895;  Grand  Duchess  Tatiana,  June  10,  1897;  Grand 
Duchess  Marie,  June  26, 1899;  Grand  Duchess  Anastasia, 
June  18,  1901 ;  and  Grand  Duke  Alexis,  the  heir  apparent, 

*  Throughout  this  book  I  shall  ignore  the  Russian  calendar,  now 
thirteen  days  behind  the  Gregorian,  but  quite  likely  to  be  brought 
into  agreement  with  that  of  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  since  China  has 
virtually  decided  to  come  into  line,  and  give  dates  as  they  are  in  our 
calendar.  —  J.  K.  G. 


RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE  1 3 

August  12,  1904,  just  when  Russia  was  in  the  midst  of 
her  war  with  Japan.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the 
present  Tsar's  father  passed  many  anxious  days  in 
the  mosque-like  palace  of  Gatschina,  hourly  dreading  the 
assassination  at  the  hands  of  the  Nihilists,  which  had  been 
his  father's  fate.  This  town  is  twenty-eight  miles  south- 
southwest  of  St.  Petersburg,  and  it  is  the  private  property 
of  the  Tsar  of  Russia.  Yet  Alexander  III  was  permitted 
to  die  a  natural  death;  and  we  all  know  well  how  the 
possibility  of  a  violent  death  for  the  present  Tsar  has 
made  life  a  sad  burden  to  his  consort  and  cast  a  dreadful 
gloom  over  his  own  existence. 

The  reigning  family  of  Russia,  now  allied  by  recent  or 
former  marriages  with  nearly  all  the  hereditary  monarchs 
of  Europe,  traces  its  descent  in  the  female  line  from 
Michael  Romanoff,  who  was  elected  Tsar  in  161 3,  after 
the  house  of  Rurik  (of  which  I  shall  speak  presently) 
had  become  extinct.  In  the  male  line,  the  descent  is 
from  Duke  Karl  Friedrich  of  Hoist ein- Go ttorp  (see  the 
House  of  Oldenburg),  who  was  born  in  1700,  and  who 
was  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  cadet  branches  of  the 
princely  family  of  Oldenburg.  It  was  part  of  the  tremen- 
dous effort  of  Peter  I  (the  Great)  to  bring  about  internal 
reform  throughout  his  domains  and  to  popularise  the 
civilisation  of  Western  Europe,  which  led  him  to  seek  a 
marriage  for  his  daughter  Anne  with  this  German  duke 
and  thus  bring  his  country  into  closer  relations  with  the 
Western  States  of  Europe.  It  should  be  noted  that 
Peter  had  given  up  the  hope  of  being  succeeded  by  his 
own  son,  Alexis,  born  of  Eudoxia  Lopukhin,  whom  Peter 
had  divorced  in  1696.  This  was  because  Alexis,  a 
constant  source  of  trouble  to  his  father,  had  avowedly 
joined  himself  to  the  reactionary  party  who  hoped  to 


r*" 


14      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

reverse  the  progressive  policy  of  Peter,  through  Alexis' 
assistance,  as  soon  as  he  should  succeed  his  father.  Alexis 
was  tried  for  high  treason,  sentenced  to  death,  and  doubt- 
less succumbed  to  the  cruel  tortures  to  which  he  was 
subjected.  His  death  is  a  dark  stain  upon  the  character 
of  Peter  the  Great. 

Catherine,  the  daughter  of  a  Livonia  peasant,  but  the 
second  wife  of  Peter  I,  succeeded  him.  After  her  came 
Alexis'  son  and  Peter's  grandson,  Peter  II,  and  with  his 
death  in  1730,  the  male  line  of  the  Romanoffs  ended. 
Then  there  followed  three  sovereigns,  Anne,  Ivan  VI, 
and  Elizabeth,  who  gained  their  right  through  the 
female  line  of  the  Romanoff  family.  During  their  rule 
Russia  was  in  a  state  of  transition,  but  the  confusion 
ended  with  the  accession  of  Peter  III  of  the  house  of 
Holstein-Gottorp,  and  for  a  long  time  every  Tsar  con- 
nected himself  by  marriage  with  one  or  the  other  of  the 
great  German  families.  Alexander  I,  Nicholas  I,  and 
Alexander  II  married  German  princesses,  bringing  about 
family  alliances,  among  others  with  the  reigning  houses 
of  Wurtemberg,  Baden,  and  Prussia. 

This  mighty  state,  Russia,  is  a  striking  imperial  illus- 
tration of  the  adage,  "Tall  oaks  from  little  acorns  grow." 
Ethnographically,  we  must  assign  a  great  antiquity  to 
the  people  of  Russia  in  Europe.  There  are  in  that 
country  very  few  evidences  of  the  existence  of  paleolithic 
man,  the  contemporary  of  the  great  quaternary  animals, 
because  such  have  been  discovered  in  Poland,  Poltava, 
and  Veronezh  only.  It  is  possible  there  are  such  remains 
in  the  valley  of  the  Oka,  a  river  of  Central  Russia,  which 
joins  the  Volga  at  Nijni-Novgorod;  and  similar  remains, 
assignable  to  the  lacustrine  period,  are  so  numerous 
that  there  is  scarcely  a  single  lacustrine   basin  in  the 


RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE  15 

Oka,  Kama,  and  Dnieper  regions,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
lake  region  itself,  north  of  St.  Petersburg,  or  the  White 
Sea  coasts,  where  remains  of  neolithic  man  have  not 
been  found.* 

But  politically,  this  amazing  growth  of  the  Empire  of 
All  the  Russias  is  something  comparatively  modern, 
and  the  record,  as  is  so  often  the  case  with  parallels, 
begins  with  a  legend.  One  Nestor  —  the  name  has  a 
suspicious  sound  —  an  old  monkish  chronicler  of  Kieff, 
tells  us  that  in  the  ninth  century,  only  eleven  hundred 
years  ago,  some  Slav  and  Finnish  tribes  settled  around 
Lake  Ilmen  (about  halfway  from  St.  Petersburg  to 
Moscow),  between  Lake  Ladoga  and  the  upper  waters 
of  the  Dnieper  River.  They  paid  tribute  to  certain 
military  adventurers  from  the  land  of  Riis,  which  was 
doubtless  in  that  part  of  Europe  that  we  know  as  Sweden. 
Shortly  after  the  middle  of  that  ninth  century  —  the 
date  is  given  by  some  authorities  with  remarkable  pre- 
cision as  859  —  the  native  tribes  succeeded  in  driving 
away  the  Norsemen;  but  ere  long  they  quarrelled  among 
themselves  over  the  question  of  government  and  were 
unable  to  get  along,  because  they  lacked  a  strong  hand 
to  rule  them.  Therefore,  they  sent  messengers  after  the 
expelled  Norsemen,  to  beseech  them  to  return  and  rule 
them.  Three  brothers,  Rurik,  Sineus,  and  Truvor, 
princes  of  Riis,  accepted  the  invitation  and  founded  the 
dynasty  which  ran  out  in  recent  historic  times,  and  from 
which  many  Russian  princes  and  noble  families  claim 
descent. 

*  While  these  terms,  paleolithic,  the  age  of  roughly  shaped  stone 
implements,  neolithic,  that  of  polished  stone,  and  lacustrine,  the  period 
of  those  who  dwelt  in  buildings  on  piles  driven  into  the  bottom  of 
fresh  water  lakes,  have  no  chronological  value,  they  all  relate  to 
remote,  prehistoric  times  and  indicate  great  antiquity.  —  J.  K.  G. 


l6      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Just  who  these  Rus  were  is  not  known  precisely; 
they  were  simply  Norsemen  and  that  must  be  sufficient 
for  our  purpose.  After  establishing  themselves  firmly 
in  their  fresh  environment  and  having  given  a  measure  of 
satisfaction  to  their  subjects,  they  began  to  conquer  the 
neighbouring  tribes  and  to  possess  themselves  of  their 
territories.  In  two  centuries  they  were  at  Kieff,  from 
which  place  they  pushed  still  farther  south;  as  far  as 
Byzantium  (Constantinople).  Here  they  demanded  a 
wife  for  their  Tsar,  Vladimir  I,  and  a  sister  of  the  Byzan- 
tine emperor  was  given  him,  upon  the  condition  that 
his  people  embrace  Christianity.  The  condition  was 
complied  with,  but  this  matter  pertains  to  another 
chapter. 

The  inroads  of  nomad  hordes  from  the  east  were 
checked;  but  these  were  not  the  famous  Mongols. 
Alliances  by  marriage  were  effected  with  Poland,  Hun- 
gary, Norway,  and  France.  The  descendants  of  the  orig- 
inal three  princes  looked  upon  the  whole  territory  which 
they  had  conquered  as  one  vast  family  estate,  in  which 
each  had,  at  first  and  for  some  time,  an  undivided,  equal 
share;  but  when  the  inevitable  attempt  to  divide  came, 
naturally  great  confusion  followed;  yet  even  then  the 
sections  were  held  together,  after  a  fashion,  by  the 
dynastic  sentiment  of  Rurik's  descendants,  the  senior 
one  of  whom  ruled  at  Kieff.  There  were  innumerable 
and  serious  family  quarrels,  however.  Yaroslav  the 
Great  was  the  last  grand  prince  to  uphold  the  old 
regime;  he  died  in  1054  and  then  the  empire  (if  such  we 
may  yet  call  it)  began  to  go  to  pieces.  During  the  next 
170  years  there  were  some  sixty-four  principalities,  all 
quarrelling  among  themselves  and  thus  inviting  inroads 
by  the  wild  tribes  from  the  steppes.     These  barbarians 


RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE  17 

drove  the  Russians  northward  into  the  regions  along  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Volga,  eventually  to  Novgorod. 

In  the  meantime  Moscow  had  come  to  be  an  important 
place,  and  with  these  two  seats  of  government,  Moscow 
and  Novgorod,  both  trying  to  establish  supremacy,  it 
was  but  natural  that  bitter  rivalry  sprang  up  between 
them.  It  was  about  this  time  that  the  great  Mongol 
invasion  occurred  and  the  success  of  this  brought  about 
the  Tartar  rule;  towards  the  end  of  which  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Rurik  dynasty  began  intriguing  at  the 
Mongol  Court  and  this  was  most  successful  at  Moscow. 
But  in  1380  Dimitri  Donskoi  was  able  to  allay  the 
rivalry  between  the  Russian  chiefs  and  formed  a  com- 
bination to  fight  against  the  invading  Tartars.  Within 
the  walls  of  the  Kremlin,  Moscow,  he  called  his  people 
to  gather  round  his  black  flag  and  declared  war  to  the 
death  against  Mama'i,  the  Tartar  leader.  He  had  been 
inspired  to  take  this  action  by  a  miracle.  His  prophetic 
relative,  Dimitri  of  Vollhynia,  had  dismounted  from  his 
horse  and,  stretching  himself  at  full  length  upon  the 
ground,  had  told  Donskoi  that  from  the  depths  of  the 
earth  there  came  voices  urging  the  Russians  to  rise 
against  the  usurping  Mongols  and  promising  victory, 
but  with  great  weeping  and  wailing  over  the  slaughter 
which  would  be  the  price  of  success. 

The  history  of  Russia  may  very  properly  be  divided 
into  four  great  epochs :  1 .  The  time  of  the  Independent 
Principalities;  2.  The  short  period  of  the  Mongols 
Domination;  3.  The  Tsardom  of  Muscovy;  4.  The 
Modern  Empire.  Each  of  these  should  be  considered 
carefully  by  the  student. 


CHAPTER  III 
TEE  GOVERNMENT  OF  ALL  THE  RUSSIAS 

IN  the  edition  of  the  Almanac  de  Gotha  for  191 2,  I 
found  this  curious  statement  concerning  the  Rus- 
sian Government:  "a  constitutional  monarchy  under 
an  autocratic  tsar."  This  seeming  contradiction  of  terms 
is,  after  all,  not  such  a  bad  description  as  it  appears  to 
be  at  first  reading.  The  actual  condition  of  the  govern- 
ment of  Russia  is  not  altogether  unlike  that  of  her  late 
antagonist  in  war,  but  now  her  very  good  friend  (and, 
I  strongly  suspect,  her  secret  ally),  Japan.  The  latter 
country  is  called  a  constitutional  monarchy,  and  cer- 
tainly an  apparently  liberal  constitution  was  given  the 
people  of  that  land  February  11,  1889,  which  was  framed 
after  the  pattern  furnished  by  that  of  Prussia  and  other 
continental  European  states.  But  the  skilful  creator  of 
this  apparently  liberal  concession,  the  late  Prince  Ito, 
knew  full  well  the  limitations  put  upon  him ;  the  jealousy 
with  which  the  imperial  prerogative  is  guarded,  and 
how  to  please  the  Mikado  by  seeming  to  give  much  and 
yet  withhold  everything;  for  in  the  Japanese  constitu- 
tion there  is  a  proviso  that  the  emperor  may,  whenever 
he  likes,  suspend  the  power  of  the  constitution  and  do 
just  as  he  chooses.  This  right  has  several  times  been 
exercised  in  direct  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  the  people 
of  Japan,  as  expressed  by  their  representatives  in  the 
Lower  House  of  the  Japanese  Diet.    Specifically  was  this 


GOVERNMENT     OF      ALL     RUSSIAS       19 

the  case  some  years  ago  when  the  militarists,  shortly 
after  the  war  with  Russia  and  flushed  with  the  mistaken 
idea  of  victory,  demanded  funds  for  carrying  out  their 
wild  plans  for  the  expansion  of  armaments.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  declined  to  be  a  party  to  the 
excessive  and  —  in  the  circumstances  —  unnecessary 
burden  which  it  would  put  upon  their  constituents  by 
passing  the  Budget  (appropriation  bills).  The  emperor 
promptly  dissolved  the  Diet,  ordered  the  Treasury  to 
provide  funds  as  the  Cabinet  demanded,  and  then  issued 
writs  for  a  new  election  with  the  notice  to  his  faithful 
subjects  that  they  were  to  return  members  to  the  Lower 
House  who  would  carry  out  his  wishes,  and  pass  ex  post 
facto  bills  approving  the  disbursements.  If  this  is  not 
"a  constitutional  monarchy  under  an  autocratic  em- 
peror," it  will  be  difficult  in  any  other  way  to  describe 
concisely  the  Japanese  form  of  government.  In  justice 
to  Japan,  however,  it  is  but  fair  to  say  that  the  emperor, 
his  statesmen,  and  even  the  ultra-militarists  have  seen 
the  folly  of  trying  to  carry  out  their  extravagant  plans 
for  military  and  naval  expansion,  and  for  some  years  there 
has  been,  on  this  score  at  any  rate,  no  serious  conflict 
between  the  Government  and  the  representatives  of 
the  people.  But  who  shall  dare  to  say  that  the  Mikado 
will  never  again  exercise  the  autocratic  right  he  has 
reserved  unto  himself? 

It  is  necessary,  if  All  the  Russias  are  to  be  discussed 
intelligently  and  my  readers  relieved  from  the  necessity 
of  consulting  encyclopaedias,  that  as  clear  an  idea  of  the 
Russian  Government  be  had  as  can  be  given  in  a  few 
pages.  Rossiya  is  the  general  name  given  to  both  Euro- 
pean and  Asiatic  Russia  inclusively,  "All  the  Russias," 
in  fact;    and  while  both  English  and  Russian  writers 


20      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

(as  well  as  others)  use  the  word  Russia  in  this  sense, 
" Russia"  formerly  meant  simply  Russia  in  Europe 
(even  to  the  exclusion  of  Finland  and  Poland),  or  the 
Tsardom  of  Muscovy.  It  is  frequently  used  in  almost 
that  way  now;  in  fact,  I  imagine  that  when  " Russia" 
is  named,  most  of  my  readers  will  naturally  think  of 
those  portions  of  the  Tsar's  domains  which  are  in  Europe, 
but  inclusive  of  Poland,  and  Finland,  and  both  Cis- 
and  Trans- Caucasia.  I  shall  not  use  the  word  in  this 
loose  way;  when  I  write  of  "Russia,"  I  shall  mean  the 
whole  of  the  eight  million,  and  more,  square  miles  of  the 
Tsar's  empire  (or  shall  I  recognise  what  I  fear  is  inevitable 
and  include  the  square  miles  of  Mongolia,  Dzungaria, 
and  Chinese  Turkestan?),  and  when  it  is  necessary  to 
limit  my  meaning  to  Russia  in  Europe,  I  shall  do  so 
clearly. 

"The  fundamental  laws  of  Russia"  is  a  phrase  that  is 
often  found  in  works  treating  of  the  government  of 
that  country;  but  it  is  rather  indefinite  although  its 
meaning  may  be  fairly  well  guessed  without  going  so 
far  back  in  history  as  would  be  necessary  if  even  an 
approximately  exact  definition  is  to  be  given.  Before 
1905,  since  which  date  the  existing  form  of  government 
has  been  established,  the  fundamental  laws  of  the 
realm  always  alluded  to  the  Tsar's  power  as  "autocratic 
and  unlimited."  Officially  he  is  even  now  always 
referred  to  as  "Emperor  and  Autocrat  of  All  the  Rus- 
sias,"  but  after  His  Majesty  issued  the  famous  mani- 
festo of  October  30,  1905,  which  seemed  to  give  his 
people  at  least  a  semblance  of  constitutional  govern- 
ment, and  since  the  opening  of  the  first  Duma,  on 
April  27,  1906,  in  the  new  laws  passed  and  in  the  re- 
modelled fundamental  laws,  although  the  title  of  autocrat 


GOVERNMENT     OF     ALL     RUSSIAS       21 

and  the  principles  which  it  connotes  are  strictly  retained, 
the  word  " unlimited"  no  longer  appears. 

Even  the  most  enthusiastic  admirer  of  things  Russian 
cannot  say  that  the  existing  government  is  in  any  sense 
of  the  word  constitutional,  and  certainly  it  is  not  legis- 
lative or  parliamentary,  speaking  exactly.  Yet  for  the 
former  offensive  attribute  of  " unlimited  autocracy" 
has  been  substituted,  by  the  Tsar's  own  motion,  a  sort  of 
"self-limited  autocracy."  Whether  this  condition  is 
to  be  permanent  in  the  limitations  which  it  manifestly 
puts  upon  the  civil  and  material  progress  of  Russia  is  a 
subject  that  we  can  see,  by  what  is  said  in  our  daily 
papers,  is  causing  bitter  controversy  between  conflicting 
parties  in  that  country.  M.  Chasles,  a  French  jurist,  has 
suggested  the  phrase,  "a  limited  monarchy  under  an 
autocratic  emperor,"  as  a  suitable  definition  of  the  present 
government;  and  while  even  this  will  hardly  satisfy  the 
precisianist,it  maybe  accepted  as  reasonably  descriptive.* 

Although  the  Government  of  Russia  is  nominally  a 
constitutional  hereditary  monarchy,  yet,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  whole  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  powers 
are  vested  in  the  Tsar.  His  will  alone  is  law,  and  that 
sovereign  continues  to  bear  the  title  of  Autocrat,  not- 
withstanding that  on  August  19,  1905,  it  was  decreed 
that  a  State  Council  (Gosudarstvennaya  Duma)  should 
be  created  by  popular,  but  not  universal,  election,  and 
that  on  October  30,  of  that  same  year,  a  law  was  pro- 
mulgated granting  to  the  people  the  firm  foundation  of 
public  liberty,  based  upon  the  principles  of  the  real 
inviolability  of  the  person,  and  securing  freedom  of 
conscience,  speech,  assembly,  and  association.  There 
was  established  an  unalterable  rule  that  no  law  should 

*  Le  Parlement  russe. 


22      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

become  operative  without  the  approval  of  the  Duma, 
and  that  to  those  elected  as  delegates  by  the  people 
should  be  guaranteed  the  possibility  of  a  real  participa- 
tion in  the  control  of  the  legislation  or  the  acts  of  such 
authorities  as  are  appointed  by  the  Tsar.  The  Duma  is 
composed  of  members  who  are  elected  for  a  term  of  five 
years,  and  they  represent  the  great  divisions  of  the 
empire,  called  governments,  the  provinces,  and  the 
most  important  cities,  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  Warsaw, 
Kieff,  Lodz,  Odessa,  and  Riga.  This  creation  of  the 
Duma  and  the  determination  of  representation  were 
provided  for  in  the  law  of  June  16,  1907. 

Members  of  the  Lower  House  of  the  Duma  (that  which 
corresponds  in  a  way  to  an  Upper  House  will  be  con- 
sidered later)  are  not  elected  by  direct,  popular  voting, 
but  by  electoral  boards  chosen  by  those  in  the  chief 
towns  already  mentioned,  in  the  governments,  and  in 
the  provinces,  who  possess  the  prescribed  qualifications 
for  the  suffrage.  All  things  considered,  the  franchise  is 
granted  with  some  liberality  in  Russia;  in  towns,  all 
possessing  certain  property  or  household  qualifications, 
all  who  have  occupied  hired  lodgings  for  twelve  months 
immediately  preceding  the  time  for  registering  and  are 
in  residence  at  that  time,  also  government  clerks  and 
employees  of  municipalities  or  railways,  if  they  have 
the  requisite  educational  qualifications,  may  cast  a  vote 
for  members  of  the  district  or  town  assembly.  In  the 
country,  all  owners  of  a  specified  amount  of  land  —  this 
property  qualification  varying  in  different  districts, 
those  who  are  conducting  a  private  enterprise  valued 
at  50,000  roubles  —  provided  it  is  not  an  industrial 
establishment,  are  given  the  right  to  vote;  the  volosts, 
or  peasant  communities,  and  manufactories  employing 


GOVERNMENT     OF     ALL     RUSSIAS      23 

more  than  fifty  workpeople,  are  represented  in  the  elec- 
toral assemblies  by  delegates,  two  for  each  volost  and 
one  for  each  thousand  workmen,  chosen  by  the  peasants 
or  nominated  by  the  proprietors  of  the  factory.  Stu- 
dents, soldiers,  governors  of  provinces  within  their  own 
official  jurisdiction,  and  policemen  in  their  official  pre- 
cincts, may  not  vote.  The  qualified  suffragists  having 
elected  the  local  committee,  these  proceed  to  act  as 
so  many  small  electoral  colleges  and  designate  the 
individual  who  is  to  represent  their  district  in  the 
Duma.  The  deputies  are  paid  ten  roubles  a  day  during 
the  entire  session,  and  once  a  year  each  member  of  the 
Duma  is  allowed  his  travelling  expenses  to  and  from 
St.  Petersburg. 

It  is  well  to  begin  the  consideration  of  the  Russian 
system  of  government  at  its  very  basis.  We  shall  find 
many  complications,  and  when  results  are  considered, 
we  shall  probably  agree  that  it  is  more  of  a  paper  fabric 
than  a  substantial  structure  which  is  intended  to  shield 
and  harbour  all  the  people  of  that  great  empire.  As 
will  be  made  clear  hereafter,  the  gens  was  merged  in  the 
village  community  and  this  last  is  really  the  ideal  basic 
foundation.  Mir  means  both  "the  village"  and  "the 
world,"  and  in  European  Russia  the  government  of 
the  mir,  village  or  parish,  is  nominally  entrusted  to  the 
people  themselves,  in  so  far  as  the  lands  of  the  district 
are  concerned,  as  well  as  a  measure  of  the  local  adminis- 
tration; the  main  idea  of  the  central  government  being 
to  compel  the  common  people  to  bear  some  responsi- 
bility in  matters  which  affect  themselves  most  directly; 
as,  for  example,  drainage,  sanitation,  and  rudimentary 
education. 

For  the  purpose  of  vitalising  this  local  government, 


24      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

the  whole  country  is  divided  into  18,012  minor  depart- 
ments, comparable — in  the  matter  of  size  and  functions — 
with  the  Swiss  canton.     Among  the  Russians  this  divi- 
sion is  called  a  volost,  in  Poland  it  is  a  grnina,  in  the 
lands  where  the  Cossacks  live  and  are  in  the  majority 
it  is  stanitsa,  and  in  the  few  remote  territories  still 
occupied  by  natives  who  are  not  yet  in  any  sense  Rus- 
sianised  ulu  is  the  designation;  and  there  may  be  other 
local  names.     Whatever  be  the  title  of  the  local  assembly 
which  the  qualified  electors  in  this  minor  district  choose 
to  represent  them,  it  is  presided  over  by  an  elder  (volost- 
noi  starshina,  in  the  volost)  who  is  elected  at  the  cantonal 
election,  which  is,  again,  composed  of  delegates  chosen 
by  the  suffragists  in  the  village  community,  in  the  ratio 
of  one  member  to  every  ten  houses.     The  village  com- 
munities elect  an  elder  (starosta),  or  executive  officer  of 
the  commune,  and  also  a  tax-collector.     These  officials 
are  chosen  at  communal  assemblies  by  the  peasants  and 
from  among  themselves.     The  communal  assemblies  are 
convened  whenever,  in  the  opinion  of  the  elder,  business 
requires  consideration.     The  cantonal  assemblies  decide 
the  same  class  of  pertinent  matters  as  do  the  communal 
assemblies,  but,  of  course,  each  deals  exclusively  with 
its  own  district.    It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  Russian 
peasants  have,  nominally  at  any  rate,  special  matters  of 
their  own  to  look  after;   but  it  must  be  noted  that  all 
their  deliberations  are  submitted  to  a  bureau,  one  in 
each  of  the  local  governments,  "for  the  consideration  of 
peasants'  affairs,"  so  that  in  reality  there  is  very  little 
autonomy  after  all.     In  Poland,  where  the  gmina  re- 
places the  volost,  the  assembly  embraces  all  landholders, 
including  the  nobility,  but  excluding  the  clergy  and  the 
police;   the  priests  being  of  the  Romish  church.    Each 


GOVERNMENT     OF     ALL     RUSSIAS       25 

suffragist  has  but  his  single  ballot,  no  matter  what  may 
be  the  extent  of  his  property.  The  gmina  has,  however, 
much  less  actual  jurisdiction  than  the  volost,  because  all 
its  acts  are  subject  directly  to  the  chief  of  the  district, 
an  appointee  of  St.  Petersburg. 

The  administration  of  the  economical  affairs  of  the 
thirty-six  regularly  organised  districts  or  provincial 
governments  of  European  Russia  were  placed,  to  some 
extent,  in  the  hands  of  the  Zemstvo,  or  district  and  pro- 
vincial assemblies,  by  the  law  of  January  1,  1864.  This 
council  is  composed  of  representatives  elected  by  the 
peasantry,  the  nobility,  the  landed  proprietors,  the 
inhabitants  who  possess  the  franchise  (peasants  here 
excluded),  and  the  householders  in  the  towns.  Their 
executive  power  is  entrusted  to  provincial  and  district 
Upravas.  The  leader  of  the  nobility  of  the  district,  or 
of  the  province  as  may  be,  is  ex  officio  the  presiding  officer 
at  Zemstvo  meetings;  but  if  he  is  unable  to  officiate,  the 
judge  (called  in  Russia  ''president")  of  the  local  court 
takes  his  place.  In  1890  important  modifications  were 
made  in  the  regulations  pertaining  to  these  Zemstvos; 
the  power  of  the  noble  landowners  was  greatly  increased; 
the  right  of  peasants  to  elect  deputies  was  withdrawn  — 
previously  they  had  had  the  privilege  of  presenting  to 
the  governor  a  list  of  names  of  persons  chosen  by  them- 
selves, and  from  that  list  the  governor  selected  deputies; 
the  number  of  deputies  was  reduced  and  the  power  of 
the  Zemstvo  was  curtailed.  All  of  this,  as  will  readily 
be  comprehended,  was  in  the  direction  of  lessening 
materially,  or  cancelling  entirely,  the  privileges  which 
had  been  granted  to  the  people. 

The  Russian  towns  and  cities  have  had  for  a  very  long 
time  certain  local  institutions  of  their  own,  survivals  — 


26      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

in  some  instances  —  of  the  time  of  the  Independent 
Principalities  that  are  noted  later.  These  matters  are 
now,  however,  arranged  on  nearly  the  same  principles 
as  those  leading  up  to  the  Zemstvo.  All  urban  house- 
holders are  divided  into  three  classes,  each  group  sup- 
posed to  represent  an  equal  amount  of  real  property, 
and  each  group  sending,  through  its  own  electoral 
college,  an  equal  number  of  deputies  to  the  Duma. 
In  1894  municipal  institutions,  but  with  very  limited 
scope  of  power,  had  been  granted  to  several  towns  in 
Siberia;  in  1895  somewhat  the  same  thing  was  done  in 
Caucasia.  In  1899  the  powers  of  these  municipal 
governments  were  reduced,  and  now  the  control  is  almost 
wholly  in  the  hands  of  governors  appointed  by  the  Tsar. 
At  present  the  Zemstvo  is  found  in  thirty-four  provinces 
(361  minor  districts  of  European  Russia). 

It  is  perhaps  a  trifle  hazardous  to  make  any  positive 
statement  concerning  the  government  of  Finland,  be- 
cause the  evidence  of  the  last  few  years  has  been  of  the 
nature  to  lead  us  to  assume  that  all  semblance  of  inde- 
pendent government  will  be  withdrawn  ere  long;  but, 
speaking  with  due  reserve,  it  may  be  said  that  this  grand 
duchy  is  ruled  by  the  Tsar  as  grand  duke,  yet  nominally 
subject  to  the  provisions  of  its  own  constitution.  Begin- 
ning years  ago,  but  with  increasing  evidence  of  inimical 
intention  in  1899,  1901,  and  1903,  the  Russian  Gov- 
ernment evinced  unmistakable  purpose  to  curtail  the 
privileges  of  the  Finns.  Then,  however,  in  1905  came 
what  was  probably  the  most  inclusive  and  effective 
"strike"  ever  known:  all  classes  joined  in  this  protest 
against  the  manifest  intention  of  the  St.  Petersburg 
Government  to  take  away  precious  constitutional  rights 
long  enjoyed.     Professional  men,  industrialists,  artisans, 


GOVERNMENT     OF     ALL     RUSSIAS      27 

labourers,  every  class  of  people  and  every  member  of  his 
class  "  struck,"  and  the  only  places  of  business  that  were 
allowed  to  keep  open  were  the  provision  shops  and 
kindred  purveyors  of  food  stuffs,  and  even  these  were 
permitted  to  do  nothing  more  than  supply  the  daily 
needs  of  their  regular  Finnish  customers.  Embarrassed 
by  the  conditions  left  at  the  close  of  the  war  with  Japan, 
the  Tsar  and  his  government  were  compelled  to  yield 
in  a  measure,  although  doubtless  this  is  but  a  temporary 
concession.  The  liberal  Swedish  constitution  was  re- 
modelled, although  the  privilege  of  absolutely  universal 
suffrage,  regardless  of  sex,  freedom  of  the  press,  of 
speech,  and  of  meeting  and  association  were  recognised. 
But  in  1908  and  19 10  friction  between  the  Russian 
Government  and  the  Finns  reappeared;  the  imperial 
government  insisted  that  whenever  questions  arose 
between  Russia  and  Finland,  they  must  be  decided 
absolutely  by  the  central  government.  A  renewed 
attempt  was  made  to  curtail  the  powers  of  the  Finnish 
national  assembly,  and  the  Russian  Government  has 
tried  to  enforce  the  use  of  the  Russian  language. 

Of  Russian  Poland  and  its  interesting  history,  its 
sustained  effort  to  preserve  independence,  its  bravery 
and  its  early  struggles,  it  is  apposite  now  to  say  nothing 
more  than  they  are  actually  things  of  the  past  or  prob- 
ably soon  will  be.  All  towns  of  less  than  2000  inhabi- 
tants were,  as  long  ago  as  1863,  deprived  of  all  municipal 
rights  and  are  governed  through  appointed  officials  by 
St.  Petersburg,  in  the  various  gminas.  The  Baltic 
Provinces  had  some  institutions  of  their  own  for  self- 
government,  but  these  have  gradually  been  withdrawn 
until  now  they  are  not  even  a  shadow  of  things  past. 
The  Russian  language  is  forced  upon  the  people,  and 


28      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

education,  both  religious  and  secular,  is  essentially 
Russian.  The  University  of  Dorpat  is  now  deprived 
of  the  right  of  self-government;  while  the  name  of  that 
city  has  been  changed  to  Yurief  and  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment transferred  to  Riga. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that 
the  election  of  deputies  to  the  Duma  is  arranged  in  such 
an  indirect  manner  that  the  people  have  in  reality  less 
control  over  the  choice  than  we  in  America  have  in 
choosing  our  Federal  Senators.  Perhaps  this  method 
of  indirect  election  was  devised  purposely  to  give  as 
little  of  the  substance  of  popular  government  as  possible, 
while  the  shadow  was  made  to  appear  important.  The 
Duma  representatives  are  elected  for  a  term  of  five  years, 
and  they  represent  the  governments  or  provinces  and 
the  great  cities,  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  Warsaw, 
Kieff,  Lodz,  and  Riga  (law  of  January  16,  1907).  By  a 
law  that  was  promulgated  on  February  20,  1906,  the 
Council  of  the  Empire  was  associated  with  the  Duma 
as  the  Upper  House  of  the  National  Assembly,  and  since 
then  the  legislative  power  has  been  exercised  normally 
by  the  Tsar  only  in  concert  with  these  two  Chambers. 
This  Council  of  the  Empire,  or  Imperial  Council,  as 
reconstructed  for  the  purpose  just  mentioned,  consists 
of  196  members,  98  nominated  by  the  Tsar,  98  by  elec- 
tion, and  the  Ministers  of  State  are,  by  virtue  of  their 
office,  members  in  addition,  and  must  accept  as  a  part 
of  their  responsibilities  the  obligation  of  replying  to 
interpellations  addressed  to  them  by  the  Representatives. 
Yet  I  have  given  a  very  incorrect  impression  of  the 
autocracy  of  Russia,  if  my  readers  infer  that  this  inter- 
pellation even  remotely  approximates  the  catechising 
to  which  British  Ministers  of  State  are  frequently  sub- 


GOVERNMENT     OF     ALL     RUSSIAS      29 

jected  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The  elective  members 
are  chosen,  three  by  the  "black"  clergy,  that  is,  the 
cloistered  Monks,  three  by  the  " white"  clergy,  who  are 
the  seculars  or  parish  priests,  eighteen  by  the  associations 
of  the  nobles,  six  by  the  Academy  of  Science  and  the 
universities,  thirty-four  by  the  governments  wherein 
there  is  a  Zemstvo,  sixteen  by  those  without  a  Zemstvo, 
and  six  by  Poland.  The  Polish  members,  I  was  assured, 
are  really  representatives  of  the  noble  landlords  and  not 
at  all  of  the  people. 

The  Duma  is  actually,  as  yet,  but  the  least  important 
factor  in  the  government  of  All  the  Russias,  and  I  turn 
now  to  a  consideration  of  what  are  some  of  the  essential 
departments  in  the  administration  of  the  empire,  which 
are  still  entrusted  to  great  bodies  or  Councils,  possessing 
separate  functions  that  are  usually  diverse,  and  yet  at 
times  they  are  so  approximate  as  to  be  confusing.  One  of 
the  great  colleges  or  boards  of  government  is  The  Ruling 
Senate  (Pravitelstvuyushchi  Senat),  that  was  established 
by  Peter  the  Great  in  1711.  This  must  not  be  in  any 
way  confounded  with  the  Council  of  the  Empire  as 
forming  an  Upper  House  (or  Senate)  of  the  Duma. 
The  functions  of  the  Senate  are  partly  of  a  deliberative 
and  partly  of  an  executive  character.  No  law  is  opera- 
tive until  it  has  been  promulgated  by  the  Senate.  It  is 
also  the  highest  court  of  justice  —  the  Supreme  Court, 
as  it  were,  of  the  empire.  This  important  body  is  divided 
into  six  departments,  all  of  which  have  their  offices  in 
St.  Petersburg,  and  two  of  its  sections  are  Courts  of 
Cassation,  yet  all  of  the  divisions  are  authorised  to  decide, 
as  courts  of  last  resort,  upon  certain  cases  of  unusual 
importance.  The  Senators  are  generally  princes  of  high 
rank,  or  men  who  fill  positions  of   great  dignity  and 


30      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

importance,  but  there  is  always  a  jurist  of  acknowledged 
eminence  to  preside  over  each  section.  This  presiding 
officer  represents  the  Tsar  himself,  and  without  this 
president's  signature  —  which  is  equivalent  to  the  Tsar's 
approval  —  the  decisions  of  his  department  are  without 
force.  At  meetings  of  the  whole  Senate,  or  one  of  several 
independent  sections,  the  Minister  of  State  for  Justice 
takes  the  chair.  There  is  one  special,  and  greatly 
dreaded  section,  which  is  entrusted  with  the  duty  of 
issuing  disciplinary  judgments  against  offending  officials 
of  the  crown. 

Another  of  these  great  councils,  also  created  by  Peter 
the  Great,  in  1721,  is  the  Holy  Synod,  and  to  it  is  en- 
trusted the  supervision  of  religious  affairs  of  the  empire. 
It  is  composed  of  the  three  metropolitans  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, Moscow,  and  Kieff,  the  Archbishop  of  Georgia 
(Caucasus),  and  several  of  the  bishops,  sitting  in  rotation. 
All  its  decrees  are  issued  in  the  Tsar's  name,  for  he  is  the 
acknowledged  head  of  the  Orthodox  Church,  and  they 
have  no  force  until  approved  by  him.  Yet,  while 
theoretically  the  will  of  the  Tsar  is  paramount,  he  is 
represented  in  the  Holy  Synod  by  a  layman  who  decides 
what  topics  may  be  discussed,  and  without  the  approval 
of  this  non-cleric  no  decree  of  the  Synod  is  efficient. 
Still  the  president  of  the  Holy  Synod  is  the  Metropolitan 
of  St.  Petersburg,  and  it  is  he  who  represents  that  body 
in  the  Tsar's  Cabinet. 

The  Council  of  the  Empire  is  the  most  important 
board  of  government,  since  it  was  reorganised  by  the 
decree  of  November  1,  1905.  In  legislative  matters 
this  Council  may  be  said  to  be  co-ordinate  with  the 
Duma,  for  they  have  equal  legislative  powers,  the  same 
right    of   initiative    in    legislation,    and    of    addressing 


The   Winter   Palace,    St.    Petersburg 


The   Bourse,   St.    Petersburg 


GOVERNMENT     OF     ALL     RUSSIAS       31 

questions  to  Cabinet  Ministers.  Every  measure,  before 
being  submitted  for  the  imperial  sanction,  must  be  passed 
by  the  Duma  and  the  Council  of  the  Empire,  and  all 
such  as  are  rejected  by  either,  are  not  sent  to  the  Tsar 
at  all.  Both  the  Council  and  the  Duma  have  the  right 
to  annul  the  election  of  any  of  their  members.  The 
sittings  of  both  bodies  are  open  to  the  public.  The 
closure  of  a  debate  may  be  ordered  by  a  simple  majority 
vote.  Neither  one  is  empowered  to  receive  deputations 
or  petitions.  Laws  passed  by  the  two  bodies  are  sub- 
mitted for  imperial  sanction  by  the  President  of  the 
Council.  The  members  of  both  institutions  are  granted 
the  privilege  of  personal  immunity  during  the  session  of 
the  Duma ;  they  are  liable  to  arrest  only  with  the  consent 
of  their  respective  bodies,  except  in  cases  of  flagrant 
offence  or  unlawful  act  committed  in  excess  of  their 
duties.  It  is  further  provided  that  bills  vetoed  by  the 
Tsar  may  not  be  brought  forward  again  during  the  same 
session;  while  measures  rejected  by  one  of  these  legisla- 
tive bodies  may  not  be  taken  up  again  without  imperial 
sanction. 

The  Tsar's  Cabinet  comprises  the  following:  Minister 
of  the  Imperial  House  and  Crown  Estates;  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs ;  Minister  of  War ;  Minister  of  the  Navy; 
Minister  of  the  Interior;  Minister  of  Public  Instruction; 
Minister  of  Finance;  Minister  of  Justice;  Director  of 
the  Department  of  Land  Organisation  and  Agriculture; 
Minister  of  Communications  (Railways,  Post,  etc.); 
Minister  of  Commerce  and  Industry;  Director  of  the 
Department  of  General  Control;  President  of  the  Holy 
Synod;  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  State  Studs;  High 
Commissioner  for  the  Study  of  all  Points  of  View  of  the 
Railways.     This  last  has  to  do  with  the  development 


32      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

and  physical  maintenance  of  the  railways;  the  former 
looks  after  the  operation.  A  Minister  of  State  is  eligible 
to  election  as  an  ordinary  member  of  the  Lower  House 
of  the  Duma,  and  in  that  capacity  he  is  qualified  to  vote 
on  all  measures. 

The  empire  is  divided  into  governments  and  provinces, 
the  subdivisions  of  which  are  called  districts  or  circuits. 
There  are  78  governments  (49  in  European  Russia,  10  in 
Poland,  8  in  Finland,  7  in  Caucasia,  4  in  Siberia);  21 
provinces  (1  in  European  Russia,  5  in  Caucasia,  9  in 
Central  Asia,  6  in  Siberia);  and  one  circuit,  that  of 
Shirvan  in  the  Caucasus.  Some  of  the  governments  or 
provinces  are  united  into  general  governments.  At  the 
head  of  each  general  government  is  a  governor-general, 
the  representative  of  the  Tsar,  who  as  such  has  the 
supreme  control  and  direction  of  all  affairs,  whether  civil 
or  military;  he  is  almost  invariably  an  army  officer  of 
high  rank.  In  Siberia,  the  governors-general  are  each 
assisted  by  an  elected  council  who  have  a  deliberative 
voice.  A  civil  governor,  assisted  by  a  council  of  regency, 
to  which  all  matters  must  be  submitted,  is  established 
in  each  government,  and  a  military  governor  in  17 
provinces,  1  town  (Kronstadt),  and  on  the  island  of 
Saghalien.  A  vice-governor  is  appointed  to  act  for  the 
governor,  when  necessary.  There  is  also,  for  each  gov- 
ernment, a  council  of  control  under  the  presidency  of  a 
special  officer,  subordinate  to  the  Department  of  General 
Control.  Each  government  or  province  is  divided  into 
from  5  to  15  districts  (815  in  the  empire),  each  having 
its  own  administrative  institutions.  The  important  cities 
(8)  are  administered  by  special  governors. 


CHAPTER  IV 

DEVELOPMENT  AND  GROWTH 

THE  following  is  a  synoptical  account  of  the  acqui- 
sition of  the  different  Russian  territories. 
"Moscow  was  founded  as  a  principality,  in  the  end 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  by  Daniel,  son  of  Alexander 
Nevski  (of  Novgorod).  Vasili  (1389-1425),  Grand 
Prince  of  Moscow,  and  Vladimir  acquired  Suzdol, 
Murom,  Vologda,  and  other  territories.  Ivan  III, 
(1462-1505)  acquired  Perm  in  1472,  Novgorod  in  1478, 
Iver  in  1482,  Vyatka  in  1489,  RostorT  and  vast  regions 
in  the  north,  and  made  conquests  from  Lithuania  as  far 
westward  as  the  river  Soga.  Vasili  (1 505-1 533)  acquired 
Pskoff  in  1 5 10,  and  Ryazan  about  1521.  Under  Ivan 
IV,  Kazan  was  acquired  in  1552,  and  Astrakhan  in  1554. 
The  Don  Cossacks  came  under  the  protection  of  Russia, 
and  a  great  part  of  Siberia  was  added.  The  acquisition 
of  Siberia  went  on  through  the  seventeenth  century. 
Under  Alexis  (1 645-1 676),  Smolensk,  Kieff,  and  the 
eastern  Ukraine  were  added  about  1667.  By  the  treaty  of 
Nystad,  Peter  the  Great  gained  from  Sweden  Livonia, 
Esthonia,  Ingria,  and  Karelia,  which  had  been  conquered 
several  years  previously.  There  was  a  small  cession  in 
southern  Russia  by  Turkey  in  the  reign  of  Anna  (1730- 
1740).  Part  of  Finland  was  acquired  by  Elizabeth  in  1743. 
Lithuania  and  a  large  part  of  Poland  were  acquired  by 
the  partitions  of  1772,  1793,  and  1795,  under  Catharine 


34      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

II.  She  received  cessions  from  Turkey  in  the  peace  of 
1774,  the  terms  of  which  enabled  her  to  annex  the  Crimea 
(1783) ;  annexed  the  republic  of  the  Saporogian  Cossacks; 
gained  territory  from  Turkey  between  the  Bug  and 
Dniester  in  1702;  and  annexed  Courland  in  1795.  Paul 
annexed  Georgia  in  1801.  Finland  was  conquered  in 
1808-09  by  Alexander  I,  who  also  won  Bessarabia  from 
Turkey  in  181 2.  By  the  treaties  of  18 15  a  large  part  of 
the  duchy  of  Warsaw  was  assigned  as  the  kingdom  of 
Poland  to  Alexander  I.  He  added  also  Daghestan, 
Mingrelia,  Imeritia,  and  Shirvan.  Nicholas  in  1828 
acquired  Erivan  and  Nakhitchevan  from  Persia,  and  in 
1829  Poti  and  other  fortresses  near  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  Black  Sea  from  Turkey,  and  received  the  submission 
of  the  Kirghiz.  Under  Alexander  II  the  Caucasus 
practically  submitted  in  1859;  the  Amur  territory  was 
gained  in  1858;  the  Khanate  of  Samarkand  was  gained 
in  1868;  and  Bokhara  became  a  vassal  state.  Russian 
America  was  ceded  to  the  United  States  in  1867.  Khiva 
became  a  vassal  state  in  1873.  The  Chinese  province 
of  Kuldja  was  acquired  in  187 1,  but  retroceded  in  1881. 
Khokand  was  annexed  in  1876.  The  strip  of  Bessarabia, 
lost  in  1856,  was  regained  in  1878,  and  Kars  and  Batum 
were  gained  at  the  same  time.  Geok-Tepe  was  taken  in 
1 88 1.  The  Merv  oasis  submitted  in  1884.  The  region 
around  Pendjeh,  in  northwestern  Afghanistan,  was 
gained  in  1887-1888."  * 

This  synopsis  is  a  fairly  satisfactory  statement  up  to 
the  date  when  it  was  written,  not  later  than  1901. 
Since  that  year  there  have  been  both  expansion  and 
contraction  on  a  rather  broad  scale,  and  I  purpose  now 
considering  in  some  detail  the  development  and  growth 

*  The  Century  Dictionary  and  Cyclop cediaftol.  IX,  Article  Russia. 


DEVELOPMENT     AND     GROWTH         35 

which  the  synopsis  indicates,  and  I  shall  then  try  to 
pursue  the  record  of  expansion,  as  nearly  as  possible, 
down  to  the  time  of  writing.  Going  back  to  the  time 
indicated  towards  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  it  is  to 
be  noted  that  the  consolidation  and  wise  internal  de- 
velopment of  the  rapidly  growing  State  did  not  keep 
pace  with  the  augmenting  territory,  so  that  the  term, 
"All  the  Russias,"  indicated,  but  a  very  few  centuries 
ago,  a  collection  of  units  so  perilously  independent  of  one 
another  that  order  and  government  in  anything  like 
satisfactory  conditions,  when  we  think  of  a  nation,  were 
impossible.  The  senior  member  of  those  independent 
principalities  which  have  been  mentioned  was  the  Grand 
Prince  who  ruled  at  Kieff,  "the  mother  of  Russian  cities," 
of  which  place  a  good  deal  will  be  said  in  another  chapter. 
Here  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  as  one  travels  in  a  direc- 
tion about  south-southwest  from  Moscow,  he  reaches 
the  valley  of  the  Dnieper  River,  beyond  which  rises  a 
range  of  low  brown  hills  fairly  well  wooded.  These 
swellings  of  the  earth's  surface  would  be  merely  "hills" 
in  most  countries,  but  because  of  the  general  level  of 
Russia,  they  are  called  Kiev,  "the  mountain."  It  is 
certain  that  a  town  existed  at  this  place  long  before  it 
is  mentioned  in  any  of  the  chronicles. 

Yet  the  actual  administrative  authority  of  even  this 
senior  Grand  Prince  was  restricted  to  his  own  compara- 
tively small  domain.  To  be  sure,  when  the  almost  con- 
stant disputes  between  other  members  of  this  curious 
family  arose,  it  was  the  Grand  Prince  of  Kieff  who  tried 
to  exercise  parental  influence  in  allaying  friction  and  he 
attempted  to  do  this  in  the  cause  of  general  peace  and 
with  a  rough  sort  of  justice.  One  condition  that  tended 
greatly  to  the  embarrassment  of  all  concerned  was  the 


36      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

fact  that  the  position  of  Grand  Prince  was  not  hereditary; 
it  was  elective,  and  had  this  germ  of  democracy  not  been 
nipped  by  a  strong  hand,  it  is  quite  possible  the  autocratic 
Tsar  of  All  the  Russias  would  have  been  quite  a  different 
monarch  from  what  he  is.  The  senior  member  of  the 
Rurik  dynasty  was  supposed  to  be  called  to  fill  the 
position  at  Kieff,  and  a  similar  senior  member  of 
the  collateral  branches  at  other  cities;  therefore  this  in- 
volved frequent  change  of  rulers;  and  inasmuch  as  these 
men  were  merely  human,  they  were  naturally  desirous 
of  getting,  each  for  himself,  as  much  territory  as  possible. 
Consequently,  we  find  them  asserting  claim  to  any 
principality  that,  for  the  moment,  was  without  a  ruler 
and  wherein  there  was  a  possibility  of  their  making  this 
claim  good.  Yaroslav  the  Great  was  the  last  Grand 
Prince  of  Russia,  and  he  had  his  headquarters  at  Nov- 
gorod. Rurik  had  chosen  this  site  for  his  metropolis, 
and  the  place,  because  of  its  exceptionally  advantageous 
situation,  had  quickly  grown  into  a  commercial  city. 
That  it  is  one  of  the  oldest  cities  in  Russia  cannot  be 
denied,  and  its  importance  is  attested  by  the  fact  that 
it  was  a  member  of  the  Hanseatic  League,  which  is 
usually  considered  to  have  originated  with  the  compact 
between  Hamburg  and  Lubeck  in  1241.  Its  influence 
(I  hesitate  to  use  the  stronger  term,  government)  ex- 
tended from  the  Baltic  Sea  on  the  west,  to  the  Ural 
Mountains  on  the  east,  and  subordinate  to  it  were  many 
towns  of  more  or  less  importance,  —  Pskov,  Nijni- 
Novgorod,  and  Vyatka  were  among  them.  In  the  form 
of  government,  it  was  distinctly  more  republican  than 
monarchical,  and  it  was,  perhaps,  the  most  conspicuous 
example  of  what  might  have  developed  in  Russia,  to 
which  I  have  just  alluded,  had  conditions  remained 


DEVELOPMENT     AND     GROWTH         37 

unchanged  from  what  they  were  at  one  time,  and  had 
Novgorod's  example  been  followed  by  other  cities  and 
provinces.  A  more  exact  comparison  than  that  between 
republic  and  monarchy  would  be  to  liken  Old  Novgorod, 
at  the  time  when  it  was  the  political  centre  of  north- 
western Russia  and  called  "Lord  Novgorod  the  Great," 
to  a  municipal  republic  like  unto  Venice.  "  Political 
power  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  civil  officials  and  the 
Vetche,  a  popular  assembly  which  was  called  together  in 
the  market  place,  as  occasion  required,  by  the  tolling  of 
the  great  bell."  We  read  very  often  of  an  usurper  or  a 
conqueror,  who  wished  to  humiliate  the  citizens  of  a 
captured  city,  removing  the  great  bell,  and  it  will  be 
understood  that  this  was  an  act  in  restraint  of  their 
political  and  civic  liberty,  by  carrying  away  the  instru- 
ment which  summoned  them  to  assemble  for  consultation 
and  united  action. 

Rurik's  descendants,  feeling  themselves  to  be  entrusted 
with  the  right  to  govern  arbitrarily,  chafed  under  the 
opposition  which  this  tendency  towards  republicanism 
evinced;  but  for  some  time  they  were  far  from  being 
successful,  and  they  were  not  infrequently  treated  with 
such  scant  respect  that  there  came  into  vogue  this  adage : 
"If  the  prince  is  bad,  into  the  mud  with  him!"  Thus 
while  there  was,  for  a  while,  a  germ  of  republicanism  in 
the  Russia  of  seven  hundred  years  ago,  it  was  not  to  be 
permitted  to  develop.  The  true  nucleus  of  the  Russian 
Empire  was  not  Novgorod,  with  its  democratic  institu- 
tions, but  Moscow,  where  the  power  of  the  popular 
assembly  was  insignificant.  There,  the  will  of  the  prince 
was  practically  supreme;  whatever  of  opposition  there 
was  to  annoy  him  came,  not  from  the  burghers,  but  from 
the  boyars  and  nobles.     It  should  be  remembered  that 


38       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

previous  to  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great,  the  title  of  boyar 
was  given  to  the  highest  class  of  Russian  officials;  the 
title  conferred  a  rank  in  the  state,  but  entailed  no  special 
duty.  Later  it  came  to  signify  the  higher  aristocracy; 
it  is  still  heard,  but  has  come  to  have  a  political  mean- 
ing, for  the  boyar  party  is  the  popular  name  for  the 
conservatives. 

The  quarrels  between  Moscow  and  Novgorod  were 
most  persistent  and  continued  until  the  first  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  when  a  danger  appeared  which 
threatened  both  places  equally  and  the  whole  of  Russia 
as  well.  It  was  the  coming  of  a  mysterious  foe  from  the 
Far  East.  An  old  Russian  chronicler  of  the  time  says: 
"For  our  sins  unknown  nations  arrived.  No  one  knew 
their  origin  or  whence  they  came,  or  what  religion  they 
practised.  That  is  known  to  God  only,  and  possibly 
to  wise  men  who  are  learned  in  book-lore."  The  Rus- 
sians, advancing  from  the  central  part  of  what  we  now 
know  as  Russia  in  Europe  towards  the  Ural  Mountains 
and  the  frontier  of  Asia,  had  their  first  disagreeable  ex- 
perience with  the  nomadic  tribes  whom  they  called  the 
Polovtsi,  who  constantly  plagued  the  Russian  settlers 
pushing  eastward;  but  now  these  nomads  besought  the 
friendship  and  protection  of  those  whom  they  had 
persistently  harassed.  "These  terrible  strangers  have 
taken  our  country  and  to-morrow  they  will  take  yours  if 
you  do  not  come  quickly  to  help  us,"  said  they. 

After  inflicting  a  crushing  defeat  upon  the  Russians 
on  the  banks  of  the  Kalka  River  in  1224,  the  Mongols, 
for  some  unexplained  reason,  returned  whence  they  came, 
but  came  back  thirteen  years  later,  and  this  time  they 
came  with  the  manifest  intention  of  staying,  for  they 
set  up  their  capital  at  Sarai  on  the  lower  waters  of  the 


DEVELOPMENT     AND     GROWTH         39 

Volga  River.  The  ruins  exist  to-day,  although  they  are 
now  some  miles  from  the  left,  or  northern,  bank  of  the 
river.  They  are  in  the  Province  of  Astrakhan,  east  of 
the  city,  Tsaritzin.  In  considering  this  period  of  the 
Mongol  rule,  I  find  myself  at  variance  with  most  other 
writers  who  have  discussed  the  same  subject;  as  I  fear 
will  be  declared  the  case  with  other  matters  of  Russian 
history  and  polity.  Granting  that  there  was  the  sense 
of  bitter  humiliation  which  the  Russians  must  have  felt 
at  being  ruled  by  such  masters,  upon  whom  they  affected 
to  look  with  contempt  as  being  utter  barbarians,  yet  when 
we  make  a  careful  comparison  between  Russian  and 
Tartar  methods  in  war,  we  find  that  in  humanity  and 
consideration  for  the  conquered  there  was  not  much  to 
be  said  for  either  side,  and  I  think  that  history,  even 
down  to  this  very  year,  bears  me  out. 

The  leader  of  this  division  of  the  Golden  Horde,  as 
the  Mongols  called  themselves,  was  merely  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Grand  Khan,  who  had  his  capital  far 
away  in  the  then  almost  unknown  and  mysterious  East. 
Just  at  the  particular  time  which  is  now  being  considered, 
the  headquarters  of  the  Mongols  was  doubtless  some- 
where along  the  lower  reaches  of  the  Amur  valley.  It 
is  true  that  we  do  not  yet  know,  and  probably  never 
shall  know  precisely,  much  of  the  early  history  of  these 
Mongols,  yet  I  believe  it  has  been  sufficiently  shown 
where  they  had  their  original  camping-grounds,  and  how 
they  spread  east  and  west  from  that  region  in  the  Tsetsen- 
Khanate  of  eastern  Mongolia.  As  is  always  the  case, 
we  have  an  interesting  myth  to  account  for  their  miracu- 
lous beginning :  that  they  sprang  from  a  blue  wolf ;  and 
there  is  another  story  current  among  them  that  their 
great  progenitor,  Budantsar,  was  marvellously  conceived 


40         RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

of  a  Mongol  widow.  But  inasmuch  as  these  legends 
were  recorded  by  the  Mongol  historian  S'sanang  S'setzen, 
who  lived  at  a  time  when  his  people  had  gained  some 
knowledge  of  history  other  than  their  own,  for  the 
Mongolian  language  was  probably  not  reduced  to  writing 
until  the  thirteenth  century  of  our  era,  there  is  a  suspi- 
ciously familiar  sound  to  both  those  tales,  as  well  as  to 
the  termination  "tsar"  of  Budantsar's  name. 

It  was  the  famous  Genghiz  Khan  who  was  the  supreme 
ruler  of  the  Mongols;  but  the  horde  which  he  sent  into 
Europe  carried  out  their  master's  instructions  with 
horrible  faithfulness  to  which  was  doubtless  added  per- 
sonal zest.  I  would  not  for  a  moment  minimise  the  story 
of  the  frightful  atrocities  committed  by  those  Mongols 
in  Europe,  yet  the  account  of  sacking  and  burning, 
ravishing  and  slaughter  is  too  fearfully  paralleled  in 
many  pages  of  our  own  history  to  permit  of  our  pointing 
the  ringer  of  scorn  at  these  thirteenth-century  invaders 
of  Europe;  and  even  in  very  recent  times  we  have  had 
accounts  of  cruelties  practised,  wanton  slaughter  com- 
mitted, and  kindred  atrocities  which  make  us  blush  for 
our  vaunted  Christian  civilisation. 

In  religious  matters,  these  Tartars  were  really  an 
example  to  bigoted  Christians.  They  were  naturally 
Shamanists  and,  therefore,  not  religious  fanatics;  even 
after  they  had  come  under  the  influence  of  Islamism,  or 
—  as  was  the  case  with  some  —  had  embraced  Chris- 
tianity, they  were  remarkably  tolerant  of  other  creeds. 
Berkai  Khan  of  the  Golden  Horde,  who  was  among  the 
first  to  be  converted  to  Moslemism,  allowed  the  Russians 
to  establish  a  bishop  of  the  Orthodox  (Greek)  Church  in 
his  capital.  Fifty  years  later  another  leader  asked  and 
received  in  marriage,  through  the  Christian  ritual,  a 


DEVELOPMENT     AND     GROWTH        41 

daughter  of  the  Byzantine  emperor,  and  he  gave  his  own 
daughter  to  be  the  wife  of  a  Russian  prince.  There  is, 
therefore,  one  side  of  this  Mongol  invasion  of  Europe 
that  may  almost  be  called  a  bright  one;  yet  I  confess 
that  the  dark  side  is  something  that  can  never  be  for- 
gotten, and  the  incalculable  damage  which  these  invaders 
wrought  was  never  entirely  wiped  out. 

The  Russians  wore  the  Mongol  yoke  for  nearly  three 
centuries.  When  once  the  Horde  had  completed  their 
capture  of  Russia,  they  seem  to  have  been  satisfied  with 
recognition  of  their  rule  and  the  payment  of  taxes, 
levied,  it  must  be  admitted,  in  a  somewhat  arbitrary 
manner  at  first.  The  taxes  were,  for  a  while,  paid  to 
Tartar  officials,  but  about  1259  the  impost  was  regulated 
to  conform,  per  capita,  to  a  census  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion, and  eventually  the  collection  of  taxes  was  entrusted 
to  Russian  princes  who  frequently  undertook  to  see  that 
not  only  was  the  proper  amount  paid  from  their  own 
estates,  but  also  assumed  responsibility  for  the  payment 
of  the  tribute  by  neighbouring  peoples.  In  this  way  the 
Russians  were  relieved  from  the  disagreeable  necessity 
of  coming  into  direct,  personal  contact  with  the  Tartar 
officials,  who  were  objectionable  in  every  way. 

Yet  the  Russian  princes  felt  the  yoke  to  be  galling  in 
the  extreme.  They  were  made  to  realise  their  humilia- 
tion in  a  hundred  ways.  For  example,  in  case  of  dispute 
of  any  kind  between  themselves  and  the  Tartar  officials, 
if  it  were  a  matter  of  but  trifling  importance,  the  native 
princes  could  not  secure  a  hearing  or  so  much  as  a  sem- 
blance of  justice  without  travelling  to  the  Khan's  capital 
on  the  Volga  at  least,  there  to  lay  their  cause  before  the 
Khan;  and  not  unfrequently  they  were  obliged  to  go 
all  the  way  to  the  farther  extreme  of  Siberia  in  order  to 


42         RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

plead  their  case  at  the  Court  of  the  Grand  Khan  himself. 
This  latter  journey  was  looked  upon  as  being  almost  the 
end  of  all  things  human.  Those  Russians  who  were 
compelled  to  make  it  settled  their  affairs,  drew  up  their 
wills,  and  bade  goodbye  to  their  families  as  if  all  hope  of 
ever  returning  were  lost.  They  set  off  with  faint  ex- 
pectation of  ever  getting  back  alive,  and  in  few  cases  was 
there  any  return.  Besides,  the  tremendous  expense  of 
the  journey  at  that  time  was  so  great  and  the  cost  of 
litigation,  the  bribes,  and  incidental  expenses  such  a 
tremendous  drain,  even  when  the  journey  was  successful 
in  its  object  and  safely  performed,  that  the  fortune  of 
the  prince  was  hopelessly  impaired. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Russian  princes 
would  forever  submit  to  the  shameful  and  onerous  burden 
of  the  Tartar  domination ;  and  —  as  has  been  intimated 
—  there  appeared  eventually  one  who  determined  to 
risk  all  in  making  an  heroic  effort  to  cast  off  the  humili- 
ating yoke.  This  was  Dmitri  Donskoi,  who  began  by 
making  himself  useful  to  the  Khan  at  Sarai.  He  under- 
took to  relieve  the  Mongols  from  some  of  their  police 
duties  by  watching  his  serfs  and  collecting  the  taxes. 
Ere  long  he  and  some  of  his  friends  were  commissioned 
lieutenant-generals  in  the  Khan's  army.  The  cheerfully 
assumed  duties  devolving  upon  these  positions  naturally 
required  the  Russians  to  travel  a  good  deal,  and  Donskoi 
availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  thus  given  to  reason 
with  the  Russian  princes  and  quietly  to  arrange  a  coali- 
tion to  attempt  the  expulsion  of  the  Mongols.  In  1380 
he  gained  a  great  victory  over  the  Khan,  Mamai,  at 
Kulikovo;  which  did  not,  however,  prevent  the  Tartars 
from  retaliating  by  sacking  and  burning  Moscow  in 
1383.    Twelve  years  later  the  great  Timour,  called  also 


DEVELOPMENT     AND     GROWTH        43 

Timour-Leng  (which  is  corrupted  into  the  familiar 
Tamerlane,  the  hero  of  the  play),  made  an  incursion, 
but  quickly  retired  without  adding  materially  to  the 
damage  that  had  been  already  wrought.  For  nearly  a 
century  there  was  a  measure  of  respite  from  these  Tartars. 
Ivan  III  introduced  firearms  and  cannon  in  the  year 
1475,  an<i  his  troops  became  expert  in  handling  them  just 
in  time  to  relieve  their  sovereign's  consternation  at  the 
great  irruption  of  Mongols  in  1479,  when,  once  more, 
Moscow  was  burnt  by  these  vandals,  in  the  reign  of  Ivan 
IV  ("The  Terrible").  In  two  years,  however,  General 
Svemgorod  had  crushed  them,  and  with  their  expulsion 
ends  this  summary  of  some  of  the  principal  events  in 
the  second  period  of  Russian  history,  the  Mongol  Domi- 
nation. It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  during 
those  three  centuries  there  was  not  much  internal  im- 
provement, socially,  industrially,  or  commercially. 

Then  came  the  third  epoch,  the  Tsardom  of  Muscovy. 
They  were  troublous  times  indeed,  for  the  coalition  that 
had  been  reasonably  satisfactory  in  driving  out  the  hated 
Tartars  seems  to  have  had  no  permanency.  The  country 
was  again  broken  up  into  many  independent  centres, 
nearly  all  of  them  hostile  to  all  the  others.  Dmitri 
Donskoi,  sometimes  called  the  Grand  Prince  of  All  the 
Russias,  had  been  seriously  embarrassed  by  others  who 
insisted  upon  styling  themselves  Grand  Prince  and 
asserting  independence.  The  complete  suppression  of 
this  unwise  independence  and  the  creation  of  an  auto- 
cratic Tsardom  with  these  many  small  states,  most  of 
them  in  a  moribund  condition,  was  a  tremendous  task 
and  one  that  Donskoi  had  not  been  permitted  to  accom- 
plish himself. 

The  work  of  bringing  all  Russia  under  the  uncontested 


44        RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

monarchical  rule  of  Moscow  was  completed  by  Ivan  III 
(called  "Ivan  the  Great"),  founder'  of  the  present 
dynasty,  his  son  Basil,  and  his  grandson,  Ivan  IV. 
The  task  was  completed  between  1462  and  1584  and  was 
measurably  successful.  When  Ivan  III  ascended  the 
throne,  Great  Novgorod,  Pskof,  Tver,  Ryazan,  and 
Novgorod-Seversk,  a  group  of  cities  widely  scattered 
over  the  central  part  of  Russia,  still  asserted  their  inde- 
pendence. Harsh  measures  to  overcome  this  independ- 
ence were  rarely  resorted  to  in  the  case  of  any  one  of 
them.  Attention  was  first  given  to  Novgorod,  and 
craftily  the  republican  liberties  of  this  haughty  city  were 
undermined,  until  "Lord  Novgorod  the  Great"  became 
a  vassal  of  Moscow  and  took  rank  as  a  provincial  town. 
With  its  annexation  and  that  of  its  dependent  territories, 
the  power  of  Moscow  was  established  from  the  Arctic 
Ocean  to  the  southern  spurs  of  the  Ural  Mountains. 

Ivan  III  then  took  possession  of  Tver,  alleging  that 
the  Prince  of  that  city  had  been  guilty  of  high  treason  in 
allying  himself  with  the  (then)  foreign  country,  Lithuania. 
Basil  followed  the  example  of  his  predecessor  and  did 
for  Pskof  what  Ivan  III  had  done  for  Novgorod.  He 
took  away  the  ancient  liberties  of  the  citizens,  abolished 
the  popular  assembly  of  the  people  for  the  purpose  of 
enacting  laws  and  regulations  for  their  own  government, 
and  carried  off  to  Novgorod  the  great  bell  that  had  been 
the  exponent  of  this  independence  in  calling  the  citizens 
together.  In  place  of  the  popular  representatives,  chosen 
by  election,  he  put  his  own  boyars  to  be  the  law-making 
council;  and  he  adopted  the  drastic  yet  successful  plan 
for  changing  sentiment  towards  himself,  of  compelling 
some  three  hundred  of  the  leading  families  to  move  to 
other  cities  and  in  their  stead  installed  an  equal  number 


DEVELOPMENT     AND     GROWTH         45 

of  households  from  the  loyal  Muscovites,  who  could  be 
depended  upon  for  faithful  allegiance  to  himself  and  in 
furthering  his  plans  for  centralisation  of  the  government. 
He  also  established  a  strong  garrison  of  his  own  tried 
troops. 

There  is  some  confusion  in  the  accounts  given  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  important  principality  and  city  of 
Ryazan  were  secured  as  an  appanage  to  the  Tsardom  of 
Moscow.  One,  the  more  pleasing,  is  that  about  1521 
Ivan  III  gave  his  sister  in  marriage  to  the  Prince  and 
thus  accomplished  his  purpose  without  trouble.  The 
other,  perhaps  more  consonant  with  Muscovite  methods 
at  that  time,  tells  that  Ryazan  ere  long  was  treated  in 
much  the  same  way  as  Pskof  had  been;  in  152 1  the  Prince 
was  accused  of  an  attempt  to  form  an  alliance  with  the 
Tartars  who  had  been  permitted  to  settle  in  the  Crimea; 
the  Prince  was  imprisoned  for  life,  but  the  annexation  was 
accomplished  without  recourse  to  armed  strength. 

Two  years  later,  towards  the  end  of  the  first  war  with 
Poland,  the  Prince  of  Novgorod-Seversk  was  accused  of 
being  friendly  with  the  Poles  and  disposed  to  aid  them 
in  their  effort  to  resist  absorption  by  Moscow.  This 
was  deemed  sufficient  reason  for  imprisoning  him  for  life 
and  annexing  his  domains  to  Moscow.  It  must  be  noted 
that  in  not  a  single  instance  did  this  absorption  of  prin- 
cipalities enure  to  the  material  benefit  of  Russia;  each 
one  of  the  cities  which  I  have  mentioned  had  been  a 
centre  of  considerable  trade,  but  with  the  loss  of  integrity 
came  also  a  loss  of  commercial  importance.  In  particular 
was  this  the  case  with  Novgorod,  which  is  now  merely  a 
place  of  interest  to  the  antiquarian  and  the  archaeologist: 
the  other  towns,  in  conditions  as  now  existing,  are  coming 
to  have  some  importance  commercially  and  industrially. 


46       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

Thus  all  the  independent  principalities  were  brought 
under  the  domination  of  Moscow,  and  at  home  there 
seemed  to  be  nothing  more  for  Ivan  IV,  called  "The 
Terrible,"  to  do.  It  was  he  who  in  1547  took,  for  the 
first  time,  the  title  of  Tsar  of  Russia,  which  has  since 
been  borne  by  all  the  monarchs,  although  expanded  into 
Tsar  of  All  the  Russias.  His  contributions  towards  the 
expansion  of  his  domains  lay  outside  the  sphere  of 
Moscow's  domination,  for  in  1552  he  annexed  Kazan, 
in  1554,  Astrakhan,  and  later  conquered  western  Siberia, 
but  these  are  matters  which  should  be  discussed  else- 
where. Ivan  III  married  the  niece  of  Constantine  XIII, 
Palaeologus,  the  last  emperor  of  Constantinople,  who  was 
killed  at  the  capture  of  that  city  by  Mohammed  II  in 

1453- 
We  may,  therefore,  look  upon  the  third  epoch  in 

Russia's  history,  The  Tsardom  of  Muscovy,  as  sufficiently 
sketched.  There  was,  at  Moscow,  a  curious  mixture 
of  Russian  independence,  Tartar  influence,  and  Byzan- 
tine ideals,  and  these  conditions  have  persisted  so  re- 
markably that  the  old  capital  is  not  inaptly  described 
as  displaying  Oriental  irregularity  and  bizarre  beauty, 
and  as  being  an  Eastern  exotic  transplanted  to  the  West, 
an  inland  Constantinople,  a  Christian  Cairo. 

Because  of  their  having  embraced  the  religion  of  which 
the  Byzantine  rulers  had  been  the  Eastern  champions, 
the  Muscovites  now  looked  upon  themselves  verily  as 
"The  Lord's  Anointed,"  since  the  churchly  power  of 
Byzantium  had  disappeared  with  the  conquest  of  Con- 
stantinople by  the  infidels,  for  never  have  the  Russian 
Christians  looked  with  tolerance  upon  the  assumptions 
of  Rome.  The  Muscovites  came,  not  altogether  un- 
naturally it  must  be  admitted,  to  look  upon  themselves 


DEVELOPMENT     AND     GROWTH        47 

as  the  potentates  of  the  Eastern  Orthodox  world  and 
the  defenders  of  the  Orthodox  (Greek  Christian)  Faith, 
for  they  were  now  the  most  powerful  people  in  Eastern 
Europe.  To  strengthen  this  conviction  in  the  minds  of 
his  princes  and  the  boyars,  and  to  popularise  the  idea  of 
religious  supremacy  with  the  masses,  after  his  marriage 
with  the  Byzantine  princess,  Ivan  III  took  as  his  cog- 
nisance the  double,  two-headed,  eagle  to  signify  the 
union;  and  this  emblem  has  been  seen  to  the  present 
day. 

As  the  primary  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  deal  with  the 
development  of  the  Russian  Empire  in  Asia,  Siberia 
most  particularly,  I  shall  not  here  dwell  long  upon  the 
fourth  epoch,  the  Modern  Empire.  The  coming  of  the 
Mongols,  the  occupation  which  their  presence  at  first 
and  their  later  incursions,  gave  the  Russians  about  all 
that  their  hands  could  hold.  But  before  that  time  the 
Russian  rulers  had  been  looking  towards  the  western 
frontier  and  considering  the  possibilities  of  expansion 
in  that  direction  rather  than  to  and  across  the  Asian 
boundary.  Lithuania,  and  Poland  beyond  it,  were 
states  which  displayed  a  number  of  units  very  loosely 
held  together;  they  had  been  created  by  the  Piast  and 
Gedymin  dynasties  *  in  very  much  the  same  way  as  the 
Tsardom  of  Muscovy  had  grown  up. 

The  Lithuanian  and  Polish  rulers  and  nobles  were 
themselves  anxious  to  extend  their  frontiers  eastward, 
and  also  keen  to  prevent  Moscow  from  getting  through 
their  lands  to  the  Baltic.     These  conditions  could  but 

*  Piast,  the  reputed  founder  of  this  Piast  dynasty,  lived  about  the 
middle  of  the  ninth  century:  Gedymin,  1316-41,  was  the  second  son 
of  Lutouver  and  established  something  like  a  regular  government 
in  Lithuania,  carrying  on  the  new  dynasty  of  rulers  founded  by  his 
father. 


48       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

result  in  armed  conflict  and  eventually  to  the  discomfiture 
of  both  Lithuania  and  Poland.  To  reach  the  Baltic, 
the  Russians  had  to  overcome  the  resistance  not  only  of 
the  Lithuanians  and  the  Poles,  but  also  that  of  the  Teu- 
tonic and  Livonian  military  orders;  the  Swedes  and 
Danes  all  objected  to  the  Muscovites  having  access  to 
deep  water.  After  varying  fortunes  of  war,  for  the 
Russians  had  to  submit  to  some  pretty  hard  knocks  from 
the  neighbours  on  their  northwestern  frontiers,  Esthonia, 
Livonia,  and  a  large  part  of  Finland  were  added  to  the 
Russian  Empire  in  1715.  Finland  was  restored  to 
Sweden,  by  whom  it  had  been  conquered  in  the  twelfth 
century,  and  retaken  several  times.  It  was  not  until 
1809  that  Russia  retained  it  by  treaty.  The  dismember- 
ment of  Poland,  including  Lithuania,  which  was  incor- 
porated with  Poland  in  1501,  was  completed  in  1795. 
The  major  part  of  Lithuania  now  belongs  to  Russia,  the 
remainder  to  Prussia  (Germany). 

I  think  that  the  period  called  Modern  Russia  has  its 
beginning  with  Peter  the  Great.  He  is  such  an  interest- 
ing character,  if  by  no  means  always  or  even  often  at- 
tractive, that,  as  all  know,  he  has  been  made  the  subject 
of  many  volumes  much  larger  than  this.  I  shall  have 
occasion  frequently  to  allude  to  Modern  Russia  and 
Peter  in  later  chapters. 


CHAPTER  V 
EASTWARD  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

IT  will  doubtless  have  been  noted  that  in  the  synopsis 
of  Russia's  territorial  expansion,  quoted  at  the 
beginning  of  the  last  chapter,  very  little  is  said  of  Russian 
acquisition  in  Asia.  It  is  admitted  that  in  the  sixteenth 
century  a  great  part  of  Siberia  was  added  to  the  domains 
of  the  Tsar  and  that  further  acquisition  of  this  territory 
went  on  through  the  seventeenth  century;  also  that  in 
the  nineteenth  century  the  Amur  region  was  gained,  and 
some  other  additions  are  noted.  But  the  size  and  im- 
portance of  Russia  in  Asia,  6,207,662  square  miles  in 
191 1  as  compared  with  the  2,092,145  square  miles  in 
Europe  (including  Trans-Caucasia)  demand,  geographi- 
cally, physically,  and  socially,  careful  attention,  and  the 
methods  employed  by  Russia  in  securing  the  enormous 
additions  must  be  commented  upon,  and  —  too  often, 
I  fear  —  criticised  adversely. 

First,  I  purpose  discussing  Siberia,  and  at  the  very 
beginning  of  my  task  I  find  myself  compelled,  for  obvious 
reasons,  to  consider  the  Cossacks.  Here,  again,  I  am 
somewhat  at  odds  with  other  writers :  for  while  I  readily 
admit  that  these  curious  and  generally  unattractive 
people  are  altogether  too  ready  to  shoot  and  slash,  I 
think  they  are  an  instance  of  painting  the  devil  blacker 
than  His  Satanic  Majesty  really  is.  I  confess  that  I  have 
not  had  much  personal  intercourse  with  Cossacks,  yet 


50       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

no  one  can  travel  the  entire  breadth  of  the  Russian 
Empire  without  being  frequently  brought  into  contact 
with  these  people,  and  what  I  did  see  of  them  did  not 
leave  an  unfavourable  impression. 

The  Cossacks  are  sometimes  said  to  be  of  Tartar 
origin;  but  " origin,"  in  this  connection,  is  a  trouble- 
some word  to  define  precisely  and  extremely  evasive 
when  we  attempt  to  limit  its  use  and  significance. 
Probably  there  were  a  goodly  number  of  Tartars  in  the 
extreme  western  parts  of  Siberia,  just  as  far  back  as  we 
can  go  historically;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  detect,  at  any 
time,  marked  racial  differences  among  the  peoples  along 
the  two  slopes  of  the  Ural  Mountains,  which  should,  but 
do  not,  precisely  form  the  boundary  between  Europe  and 
Asia;  and  I  shrewdly  suspect  that  Tartar  blood  would 
have  flowed  had  most  of  the  inhabitants  along  there 
been  scratched;  but  this  is  not  the  place  to  consider 
ethnic  or  racial  affinities. 

In  my  opinion  the  Cossacks  were  originally  pretty 
much  like  frontiersmen  in  many  other  parts  of  the  world ; 
here  in  our  own  North  America,  for  instance,  or  in  the 
Australian  bush.  When  settlers  push  far  beyond  the 
limit  of  influence  of  the  civilisation  from  which  they 
sprung,  they  must  either  give  up  all  that  they  took  with 
them  of  manners  and  customs  different  from  those  of  the 
savages  or  barbarians  with  whom  they  come  in  contact, 
and  submit  to  assimilation  by  the  strangers,  or  they 
must  fight  to  protect  themselves  and  preserve  their  own 
institutions  while  adopting,  in  warfare  at  any  rate,  the 
ways  of  those  to  whom  they  are  unwilling  to  submit. 
I  do  not  mean  to  intimate  that  there  was  much  to  ad- 
mire or  to  be  imitated  in  the  civilisation  in  any  part  of 
the   extreme   northeastern    section   of   Europe   or   the 


EASTWARD     TO     THE     PACIFIC  51 

contiguous  regions  of  Asia  a  thousand  years  or  so  ago; 
but  I  am  led  to  believe  that  the  Cossacks  had  more  in 
common  with  other  Russians  than  is  usually  credited 
to  them,  by  my  observation  of  the  remarkable  persistency 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  Tsar's  realm,  of  certain 
types  of  humanity  and  phases  of  civilisation  which  the 
Cossack  displays,  measurably,  with  others.  • 

We  do  not  know  just  when  the  first  voluntary  settlers 
from,  let  us  say,  central  Europe  were  attracted  by  the 
possibilities  of  the  pastoral  or  nomadic  life  of  the  eastern 
steppes,  the  grazing  lands  of  the  northern  Urals,  or  the 
great  plains  of  western  Asia ;  but  it  was  certainly  a  very 
long  time  ago,  if  anthropologists  can  teach  us  anything. 
They  met  even  rougher  people  than  themselves,  people 
who  lived,  almost,  astride  of  their  horses,  who  fought 
in  their  own  peculiar  ways;   and  the  European  settlers 
soon  learnt  how  to  meet  those  strangers  in  fair  fight,  to 
conquer  them,  to  drive  them  back,  and  to  possess  them- 
selves of  the  lands  from  which  they  had  forcibly  evicted 
the  previous  owners.     The  little  we  know  of  the  origin 
of  the  name  Cossack  tends  rather  to  bear  out  my  con- 
tention;  the  Kazaks,  that  is  " riders"  —  as  the  word  is 
usually  interpreted  —  were  dreaded  steppe  marauders, 
all  mounted  and  armed  with  lances.     Because  of  this 
the  term  Kazak  came  gradually  to  be  applied  to  all  free- 
booters similarly  equipped,  whether  allies  or  aliens,  and 
it  thus  spread  from  the  Aralo-Caspian  basin  to  South 
Russia,  where  it  still  survives  as  "Kossak."     Hence, 
although  Kazak  and  Cossack  are,  in  origin,  the  same 
word,  the    former   now   designates   a  .  Mongolo-Tartar 
nomad  race,  the  latter  various  members  of  the  Great 
Russia  and  Little  Russia  family.     Yet  with  all  this,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  any  satisfactory  explanation  of  the 


52       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

word  has  been  given.  Since  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
Russians  have  used  the  compound  expression  Kirghis- 
Kazak  chiefly  in  order  to  distinguish  certain  Asiatics 
from  their  own  Cossacks,  at  times  overrunning  Siberia 
from  the  westward.  It  was  the  most  natural  thing  in 
the  world  for  those  early  "voluntary  settlers"  to  go  on 
towards  the  east  and  south  and  if,  perchance,  they 
eventually  met  different  people,  who  were  able  to  do 
more  than  hold  their  own  against  the  invaders,  and  if 
then  the  Europeans  were  driven  back,  we  have  at  least 
a  plausible  explanation  of  incursions  from  the  south  and 
southeast  by  so-called  Cossacks  in  early  times. 

It  was  from  some  such  conditions  that  the  Cossacks 
sprung,  I  think;  and  certainly  there  was  little  that  was 
softening  or  refining  in  the  life  they  were  forced  to  adopt. 
When  the  time  came  to  make  use  of  them,  the  Russian 
generals  found  ready  to  their  hands  a  body  of  horsemen 
who  were  easily  convertible  into,  probably,  the  finest 
light  cavalry  the  world  has  ever  known.  They  were 
ready  to  push  on  still  further  east  and  south,  and  but  for 
the  assistance  they  gave  the  true  modern  Russian  com- 
manders, I  doubt  if  the  occupation  of  Siberia  and  all 
the  other  conquests  of  the  Russians  in  Asia  would  have 
been  so  easily  accomplished  as  they  were. 

The  dividing  of  the  Cossacks  into  two  principal 
sections,  those  of  Little  Russia,  or  of  the  Dnieper  valley, 
and  those  of  Great  Russia,  or  of  the  Don  valley,  is  ac- 
cepted as  satisfactory.  From  the  former  came  the 
Zaporogian  Cossacks,  so  called  because  of  their  having 
established  themselves  and  built  a  fortified  camp  on  an 
island  in  the  Dnieper  River,  to  the  south  of  the  porogi, 
or  cataracts;  these  have  always  been  considered  the 
more  troublesome  and  turbulent.    The  other  section, 


EASTWARD     TO     THE     PACIFIC  53 

the  Don  Cossacks,  have  been  generally  less  intractable, 
although  they  have  been  guilty  of  numerous  uprisings. 
Not  long  after  they  had  left  their  capital,  Cherkask,  in 
the  marshes  of  the  Don  River,  Tsar  Ivan  IV  undertook 
to  punish  them  for  their  misbehaviour;  but  they  dis- 
persed, and  one  band,  under  the  leadership  of  Yermak, 
went  eastward  and  effected  the  conquest  of  western 
Siberia.  "  Another  company  established  themselves  in 
the  Ural  Mountains  and  expelled  the  Tartars  from  Jaik 
(Uralsk) ;  while  a  third  group  probably  found  a  refuge  in 
the  Caucasus,  where  their  descendants  are  still  known  as 
the  Grebenski,  or  Mountain  Cossacks." 

Trained  as  soldiers,  these  restless  and  warlike  people 
have  furnished  some  of  the  best  troops,  of  their  kind,  in 
the  Russian  army;  and  their  services  in  protecting  the 
frontiers  from  the  Caucasus  to  far  eastern  China  can 
hardly  be  over-praised.  Although  they  are  good  cavalry- 
men, and  admirable  scouts  and  skirmishers,  they  are 
rather  unsteady  in  an  important  and  protracted  engage- 
ment. "So  great  is  their  superstition,  that  in  the  midst 
of  a  conflict  they  have  been  known  to  give  chase  to  a  hare 
in  order  to  avert  the  omen  by  its  death;  and  they  still 
retain  a  large  measure  of  the  freebooter's  fondness  for 
plunder." 

We  must  always  remember  the  annoyance  the  Cossack 
cavalry  caused  Napoleon's  army  during  the  famous 
retreat  from  Moscow.  They  were  everywhere;  pro- 
tecting the  Russian  army,  harassing  the  French  most 
persistently,  and  acting  as  spies  and  scouts  most  success- 
fully, getting  for  the  Russian  generals  the  fullest  informa- 
tion about  every  movement  of  the  French.  This  is, 
perhaps,  as  good  an  example  of  the  technical  services  the 
Cossacks  have  rendered  the  Russians  as  could  be  cited; 


54       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

but  there  are,  as  well,  a  great  many  cases  of  personal 
fidelity  recorded  in  Russian  history  which  tend  to  raise 
one's  opinion  of  the  Cossack.  The  great  Yermak,  whose 
name  has  just  been  mentioned,  is  said  to  have  been  at 
one  time  nothing  more  than  a  highway  robber  and  he 
was  driven  out  of  Russia.  Going  into  Siberia,  he  effected 
the  conquest  of  a  large  section  of  the  country;  yet  instead 
of  trying  to  make  himself  a  ruler,  he  returned  to  Moscow 
and  laid  his  conquest  at  the  foot  of  Ivan  IV,  who  par- 
doned his  past  offences  and  made  him  an  important 
servant.     He  did  not  betray  the  trust.* 

There  are  abundant  neolithic  remains  scattered  all 
over  western  Siberia,  tumuli  and  other  things,  which 
indicate  a  much  denser  population  than  the  present; 
but  interesting  as  this  subject  is,  there  is  not  space  to 
consider  it  here.  Somewhere  about  the  year  1520,  it  is 
surmised,  although  the  date  is  not  known  precisely,  some 
true  Tartar  fugitives  from  Turkestan  subdued  the  tribes 
who  were  living  in  the  lowlands  just  to  the  east  of  the 
Ural  Mountains  northward  of  the  point  where  the 
Siberian  railway  crosses  the  border.  After  completing 
the  conquest  of  the  loosely  associated  tribes,  whose  lack 
of  organisation  prevented  a  successful  resistance,  these 
invaders  summoned  agriculturalists,  tanners,  traders, 
and  mullahs  (priests)  from  Turkestan,  and  numerous 
small  settlements  sprung  up  along  the  Irtish  and  Ob 
valleys.  Khan  Ediger  exercised  the  supreme  office  of 
governor,  and  these  colonists  were  prospering  until 
conflicts  occurred  with  the  Russians,  perhaps  those 
with  Yermak,  although  they  may  have  been  predecessors 
of  Yermak  who  were  then  attempting  to  colonise  the 

*I  have  learnt  that  the  identification  of  this  "highway  robber"  as 
Yermak  is  denied  by  some  authorities. — J.  K.  G. 


EASTWARD     TO     THE     PACIFIC  55 

region  east  of  the  Urals.  These  broils  brought  the  Tur- 
kestan-Tartars into  collision  with  Moscow,  and  the 
Khan  sent  messengers  to  that  capital  in  1555.  The 
envoys  consented  to  pay  a  yearly  tribute  of  one  thousand 
sable  skins,  upon  assurance  of  no  further  molestation. 
The  ease  with  which  this  tribute  was  paid  seemed  to 
indicate  to  the  Russians  that  Siberia  was  a  source  of 
great  wealth,  and  this  proved  a  further  stimulus  for 
adventurers  to  pass  over  into  the  region  eastward  of  the 
Ural  Mountains. 

Bearing  in  mind  what  has  been  said  of  the  indications 
that  at  some  period  in  the  remote  past  western  Siberia 
certainly,  if  not  the  whole  of  at  least  the  broad  middle 
belt  of  that  great  country,  must  have  been  pretty  well 
peopled  and  that  this  population  dwindled  almost  to 
the  vanishing  point,  it  is  not  altogether  inexact  to  say 
that  it  is  only  just  over  three  centuries  since  the  repeo- 
pling  of  the  land  by  immigrants  from  Russia  in  Europe 
began,  although  but  little  of  it  was  altogether  a  voluntary 
movement.  The  changes  which  have  taken  place  in 
Siberia  were  all  of  a  comparatively  quiet  nature;  for 
the  conflicts  between  the  newcomers  and  the  older 
inhabitants,  or  those  between  groups  of  immigrants 
themselves,  or  even  the  wars,  were  of  little  importance 
to  the  world  generally;  whereas  in  other  parts  of  the 
globe,  our  own  continent  for  example,  those  same  three 
centuries  were  witnesses  of  tremendous  changes,  the 
evolution  of  nations,  in  fact,  the  wresting  of  supremacy 
from  the  hands  of  one  European  state  by  another,  and 
the  like.  Russia  simply  grew  towards  the  east  and 
justified  the  boast,  not  precisely  exact  at  all  times,  of 
Tsar  Nicholas  I,  that  where  the  Russian  flag  has  once 
been  raised  it  must  never  be  lowered. 


56       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

After  Yermak's  success,  there  was  quite  an  interval 
before  the  first  serious  attempts  to  colonise  Siberia  were 
made;  then,  in  1590,  thirty  families  from  the  town  of 
Solvychegodsk,  in  the  Vologda  government,  were  sent 
there  in  pursuance  of  a  command  that  had  been  given 
by  Ivan  IV  ("The  Terrible"),  before  his  death  in  1584, 
and  we  may  be  sure  that  this  was  punishment,  not  kind- 
ness. On  May  15,  1593,  the  boy  Dmitri  was  brutally 
murdered  probably  by  some  ruffians  hired  by  Boris 
GodunofT  who  sought  this  way  of  clearing  for  himself 
the  road  to  the  throne,  although  the  evidence  in  support 
of  this  statement  is  not  conclusive.  When  Ivan  IV  died, 
he  left  two  sons,  of  whom  Feodor  (Theodore  we  should 
call  it),  aged  twenty-seven,  succeeded  him,  and  with  his 
death  in  1598  ended  the  male  line  of  the  dynasty  founded 
by  the  Scandinavian  Rurik.  Feodor  was  hopelessly  weak 
physically  and  almost  an  imbecile.  Henning,  in  his 
"Chronicle  of  Livonia,"  declares  that  Feodor  was  so 
weak-minded  that  he  could  find  no  greater  amusement 
than  tolling  the  church  bells  before  service.  The  other 
son,  Dmitri,  was  but  a  child,  yet  he  seems  to  have  been 
a  healthy  boy  and  likely  to  follow  his  brother,  when  the 
latter  relinquished  the  throne. 

Boris  GodunofT  had  married  Feodor's  sister,  Dmitri's 
half-sister,  and  being  a  strong  man  in  every  way,  naturally 
the  control  of  the  government  devolved  upon  him;  but 
he  was  determined  to  change  this  semblance  of  power 
into  reality.  Of  Feodor  he  had  no  ground  for  apprehen- 
sion, although  the  persistency  with  which  the  imbecile 
clung  to  life  annoyed  him;  but  he  would  not  have  the 
healthy  child  Dmitri  foil  him.  At  one  time,  he  con- 
templated proclaiming  the  lad  illegitimate,  and  therefore 
ineligible  to  the  throne,  because  he  had  been  born  of 


EASTWARD     TO     THE     PACIFIC  57 

Ivan's  seventh  wife,  and  the  alleged  marriage  was,  in 
the  circumstances,  such  as  is  forbidden  by  the  Ortho- 
dox (Greek)  Church.  Eventually,  however,  the  young 
prince  died  or  was  assassinated,  as  I  have  said.  The 
event,  whether  accidental  death  or  planned  murder, 
occurred  at  the  town  of  Uglich,  in  the  government  of 
Yaroslav,  and  the  populace  broke  out  into  a  riot  to  show 
their  indignation  and  disapproval,  which  seems  to  point 
conclusively  to  the  fact  that  they  believed  the  child's 
death  to  have  been  the  result  of  deliberate  plan.  This 
display  of  sympathy  so  angered  Boris  that  he  determined 
to  punish  the  town;  many  of  the  inhabitants  were  put 
to  death  and  practically  all  the  rest  were  sent  to  a  village 
on  the  Pelym  River  in  the  department  of  western  Siberia. 
Because  the  church  bell  had  been  rung  to  call  the  citizens 
together  when  they  expressed  their  disapproval  and 
broke  out  in  riot,  it,  too,  was  punished.  The  ears  by 
which  it  was  suspended  were  cut  off,  it  was  flogged  by 
the  public  executioner,  and  was  sent  to  Tobolsk  after 
the  townspeople.  It  was  not  brought  back  to  its  proper 
home  until  well  into  the  last  century.  This  act  of 
punishing  the  church  bell  is  typical  of  Russian  supersti- 
tion. It  was  not  alone  the  ignorant  townspeople  who 
were  impressed;  but  the  gentry,  the  nobility,  and  the 
clergy  all  felt  that  there  was  something  real  and  personal 
in  punishing  their  bell;  this  is  indicated  by  the  persistent 
demand,  finally  acceded  to,  to  restore  it. 

There  will  be  more  to  say  of  this  episode  in  which  the 
Tsar  Boris  Godunoff  played  such  a  conspicuous  part, 
when  I  come  to  the  city  of  Moscow,  in  a  later  chapter. 

This  transfer  of  the  citizens  of  Uglich  was  probably 
the  second  considerable  movement  towards  colonising 
Siberia;  but  later  when  emigration  to  that  country  came 


58       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

to  be  somewhat  popular,  we  find  a  peculiar  trait  of  the 
Russian  villager  and  peasant  asserting  itself.  This  was 
the  seeming  desire  for  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  or 
village  to  remove  en  bloc.  For  centuries,  it  was  a  rare 
thing  for  an  individual  or  a  single  family  voluntarily  to 
leave  their  European  home  and  seek  a  new  one  in  Asia. 
When  the  desire  to  emigrate  came  to  one  or  to  a  few  of 
the  inhabitants,  it  was  their  wont  to  try  to  persuade  all 
their  fellows  to  accompany  them.  If  they  succeeded 
the  village  was  practically  depopulated,  provided  always 
that  the  necessary  government  permission  could  be 
obtained;  if  unsuccessful,  they  either  gave  up  their  own 
desire  or  bided  their  time  until  all  could  be  induced  to  go. 
It  is  somewhat  the  same  way  at  present,  although  the 
ease  with  which  the  journey  may  now  be  made,  as  com- 
pared with  the  tremendous  undertaking  it  was  even  half 
a  century  ago,  and  the  fact  that  the  government  stands 
ready  to  assign  the  desired  land  at  once,  have  naturally 
tended  to  remove  much  of  the  hesitation  which  deterred 
an  individual  or  a  single  family  from  emigrating. 

No  intelligent  person  will  contend  to-day  that  there  is 
even  a  semblance  of  true  communism  in  the  national 
government  of  Russia,  and  yet  the  tendency  to  act  as  a 
community,  which  I  have  just  mentioned,  indicates  a 
survival  of  the  oldest  form  of  government  in  that  country. 
Primarily  there  was  a  gentile  organisation  and  gentile 
marriages  were  insisted  upon.  The  gens  passed  on  into 
the  village  community;  the  communistic  ideas  persisted 
and  the  disposition  to  act  as  a  communal  unit  prevailed. 
The  unit  of  the  state  government  is  now  nominally  the 
village  community  or  mir;  a  number  of  mir  form  a  volost, 
and  these  maintained  their  influence  and,  indeed,  a 
good  deal  of  authority  down  to  a  very  recent  period. 


Troitska,   Travelling   Carriage 


Religious   Procession,   Nevsky   Prospekt,   St.    Petersburg 


EASTWARD     TO     THE     PACIFIC  59 

Even  to-day,  in  certain  minor  matters,  the  village  com- 
munity does  possess  some  right  of  self-government; 
but  its  most  conspicuous  influence  is  to  be  noticed  in  the 
communistic  spirit  which  seems  to  prompt  the  inhabitants 
to  act  together  when,  as  is  declared  by  many  authorities, 
the  Russian  peasant  does  not  migrate  as  an  individual 
but  as  one  of  a  village  community. 

Following  up  the  movement  into  Siberia,  and  eastward 
to  the  Pacific:  "The  free  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  following 
upon  the  retreating  Tartar  horde  when  the  empire  of 
Chingis  Khan  crumbled  away,  possessed  themselves  of 
certain  lands  east  of  the  Urals,  and  these  were  amongst 
the  founders  of  the  Russian  settlements  in  Asia.  Later, 
thousands  of  Poles  were  settled  in  the  Tobolsk  province, 
Jews  were  located  at  Tiukalinsk,  western  Siberia  has 
had  contingents  from  Finland,  most  of  the  governments 
of  European  Russia,  and  also  a  large  number  of  gypsies, 
who  have  retained  the  nomadic  habit,  and  wander  over 
all  Siberia  and  Manchuria."  * 

Hastily  summarising  the  principal  events  bearing  upon 
the  acquisition  of  Siberia  during  the  three  centuries 
preceding  those  of  much  greater  importance  in  the  nine- 
teenth, it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  after  the  rebellion  of 
the  Cossacks,  headed  by  Stenka  Razin,  during  the  reign 
of  Tsar  Alexis  (1645-76),  was  suppressed,  those  of  his 
followers  (and  it  is  declared  by  contemporary  writers 
that  there  were,  at  one  time,  three  hundred  thousand  of 
them)  who  were  unwilling  or  afraid  to  believe  the  prom- 
ises of  the  Government  and  to  submit  to  the  iron  rule 
of  Moscow,  made  their  way  into  the  government  of 
Perm,  on  both  sides  of  the  Ural  Mountains  and  bordering 
upon  Asia.     Then  followed  the  episode  of   Yermak's 

*  Gerrare,  "  Greater  Russia." 


60       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

expedition  along  the  valleys  of  the  Taghil  and  Tura 
Rivers,  to  the  Tobol,  and  soon  they  had  pushed  on  to  the 
Isker  (Irtish)  where  they  defeated  the  Khan  Kutchum 
near  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Tobolsk  on  the 
Ob.  These  small  rivers  are  either  in  European  Russia 
or  they  are  tributaries  of  the  Ob  from  the  west,  and 
as  Tobolsk  is  only  about  68°  east  longitude,  it  will  be 
seen  that  this  " conquest"  of  Siberia  was  not  a  very  great 
affair. 

After  Yermak's  death,  the  Cossacks  abandoned 
Siberia,  but  large  companies  of  fur-hunters  and  adven- 
turers went  as  far  east  as  they  dared  to  go,  the  Moscow 
government  sending  some  regular  troops  to  maintain  its 
conquest  as  well  as  to  give  protection  to  these  settlers. 
These  people  kept  well  up  towards  the  northern  limit  of 
what  is  known  as  the  central  belt  of  Siberia,  because  they 
were  afraid  to  come  into  conflict  with  the  dense  and 
brave  communities  along  the  Turkestan  and  Mongolian 
frontiers;  but  they  did  not  go  very  far  north  into  the 
bleak  and  inhospitable  regions. 

By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Russians 
had  reached  the  Amur  valley,  and  had  even  gone  as  far 
as  the  Pacific  Coast.  If  it  is  admitted  that  they  con- 
quered all  of  the  great  domain  and  really  annexed  it  to 
the  Tsar's  empire,  this  may  be  explained  "by  the  cir- 
cumstance that  they  met  with  no  organised  resistance; 
they  found  only  the  Tartar  Kutchum  on  the  Tobol 
and  in  the  Altai,  the  Turkish  stocks  under  the  Kalmuck 
Altyn  Khan,  the  centre  of  whose  power  was  on  the 
Kemtchik,  and  who  collected  tribute  from  the  Teleuts, 
Uryankhs,  Telesses,  Beltirs,  Buruts  (Kirghiz),  and 
other  smaller  tribes.  Neither  Tartars  nor  Turks  could 
offer  any  serious  resistance.     When  travelling  down  the 


EASTWARD     TO     THE     PACIFIC  6l 

Yenisei  in  1607-10,  the  Cossacks  first  encountered 
Tunguses,  who  strenuously  fought  to  preserve  their 
independence,  but  were  at  last  subdued  about  1623. 
In  1628  the  Russians  reached  the  Lena,  founded  the 
fort  of  Yakutski  in  1637,  and  two  years  later  reached  the 
Sea  of  Okhotsk  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ulia  River.  The 
Buriats  offered  some  opposition,  but  between  1631  and 
1 641  the  Cossacks  erected  several  palisaded  forts  in 
their  territory,  and  in  1648  the  fort  on  the  upper  Uda 
(Verkhne-Udinski  Ostrog)  beyond  Lake  Baikal.  In 
1643  Poyarkoff's  boats  descended  the  Amur,  returning 
to  Yakutsk  by  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk  and  the  Aldan,  and 
in  1649-50  Khabaroff  occupied  the  course  of  the  Amur. 
The  resistance  of  the  Chinese,  however,  obliged  the 
Cossacks  to  quit  their  forts,  and  by  the  treaty  of  Ner- 
tchinsk  (1689)  Russia  abandoned  her  advance  into  the 
basin  of  the  river. 

In  her  anxiety  to  keep  peace  with  China  and  not  to 
endanger  the  Kiakhta  trade,  Russia  rigorously  prohibited 
and  punished  all  attempts  of  the  Siberians  to  advance 
farther  towards  that  river  until  1855.  In  1849  tne 
Russian  ship  Baikal  discovered  the  estuary  of  the  Amur; 
in  18  5 1  the  military  post  of  Nikolaievsk  was  established 
at  its  mouth,  and  two  years  later  the  post  of  Mariinsk 
near  Lake  Kizi.  Next  year  a  Russian  military  expedi- 
tion under  Muravieff  explored  the  Amur,  and  in  1857  a 
chain  of  Russian  Cossacks  and  peasants  had  settled  along 
the  whole  course  of  the  river.  The  accomplished  fact 
was  recognised  by  China  in  1857  and  i860  by  a  treaty. 
In  the  same  year  in  which  Khabaroff  explored  the  Amur 
(1648),  the  Cossack  Dejneff,  starting  from  the  Kolyma 
River  (about  1600  E.  long.,  near  Baranoff  Island),  sailed 
round  the  northeastern  extremity  of  Asia,  through  the 


62       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

strait  which  was  rediscovered  and  described  eighty 
years  later  by  Behring  (1728)."  * 

This  rather  bald  outline  gives  a  suggestion,  at  least,  of 
how  the  Russian  Empire  was  expanded  until  it  stretched 
across  northern  Europe  and  Asia  from  the  Baltic  Sea  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  may  be  admitted  readily  that  the 
task  was  not  a  difficult  one,  mainly  because  there  was  no 
opposition  to  the  expansion  raised  by  any  of  the  other 
European  Powers,  none  of  whom  had  yet  asserted 
" spheres  of  influence"  upon  which  the  Russians  might 
trespass.  It  is  possible  that  had  the  effort  of  Russia 
been  deferred  until  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  there  might  not  have  been  such  plain  sailing 
for  her  as  there  was. 

The  conquest  of  Siberia  having  been  thus  easily  com- 
pleted, there  was  nothing  more  to  be  done  but  perfect 
the  government  and  thus  secure  the  control.  At  first, 
as  is  always  the  case  with  Russian  enterprises  of  a  similar 
nature,  the  administration  was  entrusted  entirely  to  the 
high-rank  army  officers.  Gradually,  these  were  replaced 
by  civil  officials,  the  country  was  divided  into  govern- 
ments, immigration  was  encouraged,  until  it  was  esti- 
mated that  in  1906,  the  latest  date  for  which  anything 
like  reliable  census  statistics  are  available,  the  population 
of  all  Siberia  was  5,784,382  out  of  a  total  for  all  Russian 
possessions  in  Asia  of  over  20,000,000.  (One  authority, 
The  Statesman }s  Year  Book  for  191 1,  gives  7,878,500  and 
23,652,900.) 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Russian  word 
Sibir  (of  extremely  doubtful  origin)  included,  within  less 

*  Although  I  have  quoted  from  P.  A.  Kropotkin,  I  have  taken  the 
liberty  of  making  certain  corrections  and  have  altered  the  translitera- 
tion of  names  to  conform  to  our  system.  —  J.  K.  G. 


EASTWARD     TO     THE     PACIFIC  63 

than  three  centuries,  only  the  chief  settlement  of  the 
Tartar  Khan  Kutchum,  that  of  Isker  in  the  present 
government  of  Irtish.  Subsequently,  its  use  was  ex- 
panded to  include  the  whole  of  Russia's  dominions  in 
Asia;  but  the  name  is  not  now  applied  to  the  territory 
in  Central  Asia,  either  actually  claimed  to  belong  to 
Russia  or  under  her  protection ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Kirghiz 
Steppes,  Western  Turkestan,  Trans-Caspia,  Uralsk,  or 
from  the  true  Siberian  boundary  down  to  the  Afghanistan 
and  Persian  frontiers,  skirting  the  western  end  of  Mon- 
golia, Dzungaria,  and  Chinese  Turkestan.  The  material 
development  of  Siberia  will  be  considered  in  a  later 
chapter,  and  in  another  place  attention  will  be  given  to 
the  acquisition  of  Central  Asian  possessions,  both  as  to 
methods  followed  and  effects  produced. 

There  are  many  other  names  of  brave  men,  unscrupu- 
lous adventurers,  and  honest  explorers,  that  will  occur 
to  the  reader  and  that  are  mentioned  in  works  which 
have  discussed  the  conquest  of  Siberia  more  exhaustively 
than  I  have  done.  It  is  not  because  of  lack  of  apprecia- 
tion for  their  efforts,  when  these  were  legitimate,  or  of 
fear  to  condemn  them  when  they  deserve  it,  that  I  have 
refrained  from  discussing  all;  it  is  simply  because  of  the 
limitations  of  space. 


«•. 


CHAPTER  VI 

PHYSICAL   RUSSIA:   EUROPE   AND   ASIA 

IT  would  be  a  hazardous  thing  for  anyone  to  attempt 
to  define  precisely  the  boundaries  of  this  great 
Russian  Empire.  Where  adventurers,  settlers,  or  con- 
querors have  pushed  forward  to  shores  washed  by  differ- 
ent seas  or  oceans,  and  Russia's  rights  of  occupation  have 
been  recognised  definitely,  the  lines  may  be  given  with 
a  satisfactory  measure  of  precision  —  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
the  Northern  Pacific,  Behring  Sea  and  Straits,  the 
Okhotsk  Sea,  and  the  Sea  of  Japan,  are  now  correctly 
and  probably  permanently  declared  to  be  the  northern 
and  eastern  boundaries.  On  the  extreme  northwest 
the  frontier  of  Sweden  will  probably  remain  a  permanent 
border,  and  the  Baltic  Sea,  with  its  two  deep  indentations, 
the  Gulfs  of  Bothnia  and  Finland,  carries  this  line  of 
demarcation  southward.  The  German  and  Austrian 
frontiers,  too,  may  be  called  defined,  and  the  Roumanian, 
probably,  on  the  west.  But  the  southern  borders  of  the 
Russian  Empire  cannot  be  expressed  in  terms  that  are 
anything  approximately  permanent. 

Even  in  Europe,  it  can  hardly  be  said  that  the  Russian 
flag  has  never  been  lowered  in  territories  where  it  has 
once  flown;  and  it  would  be  incautious,  to  say  the  least, 
to  declare  that  there  will  never  be  any  more  pushing 
southward  of  Russia's  frontiers  in  that  continent. 
While  of  Asia  it  would  be  simply  rash  to  put  a  final 
definition  on  Russia's  borders. 


PHYSICAL    RUSSIA  65 

If  Bokhara  and  Khiva,  not  to  enumerate  all  places 
that  are  in  the  same  category,  are  still  euphemistically 
represented  as  vassal  khanates,  preserving  a  semblance 
of  autonomy,  they  are  in  reality  mere  dependencies 
of  Russia;  and  " Russian  protection,"  in  all  of  the 
Central  Asian  states  which  come  within  her  sphere 
of  influence,  merely  spells  permanent  occupation  and 
actual  annexation;  while  northern  Persia  bids  fair 
to  be  brought  within  that  same  sphere.  So,  too,  of 
Dzungaria,  Eastern  Turkestan,  and  even  Mongolia; 
admitting  that  the  statement  recently  made  by  the 
Chinese  Government  is  correct  and  that  an  arrangement 
entirely  satisfactory  to  China  has  been  made,  by  the 
terms  of  which  Russia  undertakes  to  keep  her  hands  off, 
yet  the  great  overland  route  from  Kiahkta  to  Peking,  via 
Urga,  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  hands  of  Russia  and 
"it  is  difficult  to  predict  how  far  Russian  influence  may 
extend  should  circumstances  lead  it  to  seek  a  footing 
on  the  thinly  populated  plateaus  of  Central  Asia." 

In  the  opinion  of  most  Russians,  from  the  time  when 
the  Chinese  Government  was  coerced  into  substituting 
Russia  for  Japan  in  the  Liaotung  Peninsula,  and  granting 
permission  to  build  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railway  across 
northern  Manchuria  and  from  Harbin  south  to  Dalny, 
the  whole  of  those  three  provinces  of  Manchuria  were 
considered  to  be  another  addition  to  their  empire,  and 
surely  the  behaviour  of  the  Russians  justified  outsiders 
in  considering  this  to  be  the  case.  But  the  Treaty  of 
Portsmouth  changed  the  Manchurian  conditions  materi- 
ally and  Russian  occupation  is  now  nominally  restricted 
to  the  railway  zones  for  the  147  miles  north  from  Chang- 
chun to  Harbin  and  across  the  upper  end  of  Manchuria 
from  the  Siberian  town  of  Man-dju-lie,  920  miles  to 


66       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Pogranichnaia  where  the  line  re-enters  Russian  territory. 
Yet  it  requires  no  great  astuteness  to  see  that  Russia 
exercises  much  more  the  rights  of  ownership  throughout 
the  whole  of  northern  Manchuria  than  the  privileges  of 
a  lessee  on  good  behaviour.  This,  however,  is  just  what 
Japan  is  doing  in  the  southern  part  of  that  same  territory, 
notwithstanding  that  her  privileges  are  supposed  to  be 
restricted  to  the  occupation  of  the  Liaotung  Peninsula 
and  to  operating  and  guarding  the  railways  that  have 
come  under  her  temporary  control. 

Stretching  as  this  Russian  Empire  does  across  a  broad 
northern  belt  of  the  combined  continents,  Europe  and 
Asia,  from  an  Atlantic  Sea  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  it  is 
only  natural  to  expect  great  diversity  in  the  physical 
features  of  such  an  enormous  territory,  which  on  one  side 
extends  down  to  the  cotton  and  silk  producing  regions  of 
Turkestan  and  Trans-Caucasia,  and  on  the  other  away 
up  into  the  moss  and  lichen-clothed,  bleak  Arctic  tundras 
and  the  Verkhoyansk  Siberian  pole  of  cold;  from  the 
dry  Transcaspian  deserts  to  regions  watered  by  the 
superabundance  of  moisture  brought  by  the  southwest 
monsoon  from  the  Sea  of  Japan. 

Yet  physically  there  is  surprisingly  little  variation  in 
this  wide  empire.  If  we  divide  it  into  several  basins, 
separated  from  one  another  by  more  or  less  sharply 
defined  mountain  ranges,  we  shall  have  Russia  in  Europe, 
from  the  Baltic  Sea  to  the  Ural  Mountains  on  the  east 
and  the  Caucasus  on  the  south.  In  Asia  there  will  be 
the  great  basin  from  the  Urals  on  the  west  and  the 
several  ranges  of  low  mountains,  Orulgan,  Aldan,  etc., 
on  the  east,  and  the  various  ranges,  most  of  them  having 
peaks  of  considerable  altitude,  which  define  Siberia  on 
the  south,  and  the  Russian  Central  Asian  provinces. 


PHYSICAL    RUSSIA  67 

Last  will  be  a  stretch  to  the  seas  of  Okhotsk  and  Behring, 
divided  by  the  Stanavoi  Mountains  into  two  small  basins. 
These  several  sections  together  reach  from  about  170  east 
longitude  (Greenwich  meridian)  to  about  1700  west,  a  dis- 
tance equal  to  nearly  one  half  the  circumference  of  the 
earth  (in  that  latitude)  or  approximately  five  thousand 
miles,  and  it  is  interesting  to  consider  each  separately. 

"Geographically,  Russia  in  Europe  is  separated  from 
Russia  in  Asia  by  the  Ural  Mountains  and  the  Caspian 
Sea.  The  Urals  are  low  hills  forming  the  backbone  of 
the  empire,  and  have  practically  the  same  climate, 
fauna,  flora,  and  soil  on  both  the  eastern  and  western 
slopes,  and  much  of  the  Russia  west  of  the  range  more 
closely  resembles  the  Arctic  plateau  than  it  does  the 
remainder  of  Europe.  Geologically,  it  is  Baikal  —  the 
lake  and  the  volcanic  range  —  which  divides  Russia,  and 
zoologically  it  is  the  valley  of  the  Irtish  in  West  Siberia. 
Flatness  characterises  the  country,  and  whether  in 
Europe  or  Asia  the  central  zone  consists  of  large  tracts 
of  forest  and  marsh  which  terminate  with  frozen  wastes 
in  the  Arctic  circle  on  the  north,  and  on  the  south  change 
to  rough  prairie  lands  which  merge  with  arid  sandy 
plains.  Throughout,  the  climate  is  more  intense  than 
in  Europe:  in  summer  the  weather  is  hotter,  and  in 
winter  colder  than  at  corresponding  latitudes  in  the 
west;  there  is  also  a  greater  range  of  temperature  be- 
tween day  and  night."  *  To  understand  clearly  what 
this  author  means  when  he  speaks  of  climate  and  fully 
to  appreciate  the  variations,  it  is  necessary  to  study  the 
isotherms;  it  will  then  be  seen  what  remarkable  pranks 
the  temperature  plays  throughout  practically  the  whole 
of  the  Russian  Empire. 

*  "  Greater  Russia." 


68       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

If  we  leave  out  of  consideration  the  belt  of  land  along 
the  Arctic  coast  that  will  probably  never  be  habitable 
in  our  present  acceptance  of  the  meaning  of  that  word, 
and  the  very  narrow  strip  along  the  southern  border  of 
Siberia,  where  lofty  plateaus  and  some  high  peaks  are 
found,  it  is  quite  correct  to  say  that  European  Russia 
and  most  of  Siberia  are  immense  plains;  the  former 
at  its  central  part  being  only  about  four  hundred  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  In  this  region  there  are 
many  lakes  and  several  large  rivers,  flowing  north  or 
northwest  or  south  or  southeast,  with  most  intricate 
systems  of  tributaries  whose  slow  currents  and  tortuous 
channels  attest  the  fact  that  the  land  generally  is  sur- 
prisingly level,  although  it  is  known  to  be  gradually 
rising;  that  at  a  time  which,  speaking  in  terms  of  the 
geologist,  is  not  very  far  back  in  the  earth's  history,  it 
was  submerged,  and  that  there  was  once,  no  doubt,  a 
natural  waterway  between  the  Black  and  the  Baltic 
Seas ;  although  that  was  long  before  the  days  of  the  Greek 
geographers,  some  of  whom  assumed  that  it  was  possible 
for  a  ship  to  sail  from  the  Black  Sea  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  without  passing  through  the  Mediterranean. 
The  Russian  rivers  with  their  tributaries,  when  supple- 
mented by  connecting  canals,  supply  a  most  effective 
system  of  inland  waterways. 

Excepting  in  the  Ural  and  Caucasus  regions,  there  is 
really  no  scenery  in  all  the  length  and  breadth  of  Russia 
in  Europe  that  is  of  striking  beauty.  In  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  some  of  the  towns,  for  many  of  which 
the  best  locations  have  been  chosen,  there  are  occasional 
bits  that  may  be  termed  pretty ;  yet  as  a  rule  the  desola- 
tion of  those  almost  treeless  plains  is  extreme  and  very 
depressing,  as  needs  must  be  the  case  in  such  a  thinly 


PHYSICAL    RUSSIA  69 

populated  region  where  evidences  of  human  life  do  not 
always  compensate  for  the  absence  of  natural  scenery. 
Still,  after  the  traveller  who  comes  from  the  east  has  left 
the  Ural  Mountains  and  crossed  the  Volga  River,  there 
is  something  attractive  in  the  broad  fields  of  grain  in 
Great  Russia,  that  indicate  the  success  of  the  farmers  in 
raising  good  crops  of  wheat;  and  much  the  same  thing 
may  be  said  about  South  Russia,  extending  down  to  the 
Sea  of  Azof,  the  Crimea,  and  the  Black  Sea,  about  Little 
Russia,  where  the  population  is  greater  than  in  any  sec- 
tion of  the  empire  except  Poland,  about  West  Russia, 
and  about  Poland. 

The  whole  of  European  Russia  shows  to  greatest 
advantage  just  after  the  sudden  change,  almost  instan- 
taneous, that  comes  in  the  late  spring,  transforming 
the  bleak  landscape  into  a  flower-laden  garden  of 
indescribable  radiance  and  freshness.  The  following 
description  which  I  found  in  Mr.  Hare's  book  *  is  so 
apposite  even  now  that  I  do  not  hesitate  to  borrow  it, 
as  he  had  done  before  me.  "The  whole  countrey 
differeth  very  much  from  it  selfe,  by  reason  of  the  yeere: 
so  that  a  man  would  marveille  to  see  the  great  alteration 
and  difference  betwixt  the  winter,  and  the  summer 
Russia.  The  whole  countrey  in  the  winter  lieth  under 
snow,  which  falleth  continually,  and  is  sometime  of  a 
yard  or  two  thicke,  but  greater  towards  the  north.  The 
rivers  and  other  waters  are  all  frosen  vp  a  yard  or  more 
thicke,  how  swift  or  broade  soeuer  they  bee.  And  this 
continueth  commonly  fiue  moneths,  viz.,  from  the 
beginning  of  November  till  towardes  the  ende  of  March, 
what  time  the  snow  beginneth  to  melt.  So  that  it  would 
breede  a  frost  in  a  man  to  looke  abroad  at  that  time, 

*  See  introduction  to  this  book. 


70       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

and  see  the  winter  face  of  that  countrey.  The  sharpness 
of  the  aire  you  may  judge  of  by  this:  for  that  water 
dropped  down  or  cast  up  into  the  aire  congealeth  into 
yce  before  it  come  to  the  ground.  In  the  extremitie  of 
winter,  if  you  holde  a  pewter  dish  or  pot  in  your  hand, 
or  any  other  metall  (except  in  some  chamber  where 
their  warme  stoaues  bee),  your  ringers  will  friese  fast 
vnto  it,  and  drawe  off  the  skinne  at  the  parting.  When 
you  pass  out  of  a  warme  roome  into  a  colde,  you  shall 
sensibly  feel  your  breathe  to  waxe  starke,  and  euen 
stifeling  with  the  colde,  as  you  drawe  it  in  and  out. 
Diuers  not  onely  that  trauel  abroad,  but  in  the  very 
markets  and  streetes  of  their  townes,  are  mortally 
pinched  and  killed  withall:  so  that  you  shall  see  many 
drop  downe  in  the  streetes;  many  trauellers  brought  into 
the  townes  sitting  dead  and  stiffe  in  their  sleds.  Diuers 
lose  their  noses,  the  tips  of  their  eares,  and  the  bals  of 
their  cheeks,  their  toes,  feete,  &c.  Many  times  (when 
the  winter  is  very  hard  and  extreame)  the  beares  and 
wolfes  issue  by  troupes  out  of  the  woods  driuen  by  hunger, 
and  enter  the  villages,  tearing  and  rauening  all  they  can 
finde:  so  that  the  inhabitants  are  faine  to  flie  for  safe- 
guard of  their  Hues.  And  yet  in  the  summer  time  you 
shall  see  such  a  new  hiew  and  face  of  a  countrey,  the 
woods  (for  the  most  part  which  are  all  of  rirre  and  birch) 
so  fresh  and  so  sweete,  the  pastures  are  medowes  so 
greene  and  well  growen  (and  that  vpon  the  sudden), 
such  varietie  of  flowers,  such  noyse  of  birdes  (specially 
of  nightingales,  that  seeme  to  be  more  lowde  and  of  a 
more  variable  note  than  in  other  countreys)  that  a  man 
shall  not  lightly  trauell  in  a  more  pleasant  countrey."  * 

*  Dr.  Giles  Fletcher,  Ambassador  from  Elizabeth  to  the   Tsar  Feodor 
Ivanovitch,  1588. 


PHYSICAL     RUSSIA  71 

Some  years  ago  M.  Kovalevski,  an  expert,  was  sent 
out  by  the  Russian  Government  to  make  a  report  upon 
the  limitations  which  the  physical  character  of  Siberia 
put  upon  the  development  of  the  country.  He  stated 
that  the  millions  of  acres  of  what  he  called  the  Siberian 
waste  lands  can  never  support  a  dense  population. 
This  is  because  so  much  of  the  area  to  the  north  of 
the  admittedly  cultivable  zone,  along  the  middle  and 
southern  parts  of  which  passes  the  trans-Siberian  Rail- 
way, is  in  the  same  latitude  as  the  barren  lands  of  North 
America.  It  is,  also,  similar  to  that  in  the  steppe  lands 
on  the  south  where  there  are  only  oases  of  insignificant 
extent  suitable  for  agricultural  enterprise.  Consequently 
there  is  only  a  meridional  belt  of  all  this  vast  region  that 
is  destined  by  nature  to  support  civilised  life. 

This  is  not  the  only  limitation  which  this  authoritative 
observer  puts  upon  Siberia  because  of  adverse  physical 
conditions.  Even  when  the  land  has  already  been 
cultivated  in  the  fertile  valleys  and  rich  bottoms  of  the 
once  great  rivers,  between  the  valleys  themselves  which 
are  or  may  be  suitable  for  farming,  there  are  great 
swampy,  barren,  or  rocky  districts  which  can  never  be 
satisfactorily  occupied  by  farmers.  The  central  parts 
of  the  Tobolsk  provinces,  in  the  extreme  west  of  Siberia, 
the  northern  part  of  Tomsk,  nearly  all  of  the  Amur 
provinces,  and  practically  all  of  the  three  great  steppe 
regions,  are,  in  M.  Kovalevski's  opinion,  of  this  character. 
Now,  while  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  contend  that  any 
portion  of  northern  Siberia  along  or  beyond  the  Arctic 
Circle  can  ever  be  really  cultivated,  not  only  because  of 
the  rigorous  climate,  but  also  because  the  tundras  are 
actually  nothing  more  than  perpetually  frozen  bogs, 
yet  it  has  been  demonstrated  in  recent  years  that  some 


72        RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

of  the  condemned  land  well  to  the  north  of  the  afore- 
mentioned meridional  belt,  can  be  brought  under  re- 
munerative cultivation. 

The  trans-Siberian  Railway  after  leaving  Irkutsk  on 
Lake  Baikal,  going  in  the  direction  of  Europe,  reaches 
up  to  about  56  °  north  latitude,  and  I  myself  saw,  in 
places,  thrifty  farms  to  the  north  of  the  line.  I  was 
assured  that  in  the  short,  hot  summer  wheat  and  other 
grains  were  raised  in  large  quantities  even  farther  north, 
notwithstanding  that  on  some  of  the  farms  the  ground 
at  a  depth  of  from  six  to  fifteen  feet  is  perpetually  frozen. 
It  was  said,  and  I  fancy  this  statement  is  correct,  that 
the  underlying  stratum  of  ice-tilled  ground  —  that 
which  had  been  frozen  in  the  preceding  winter,  of  course, 
not  the  lower,  permanent  ice  —  supplied  sufficient 
moisture  to  ensure  a  healthy  maturing  of  the  grain. 

The  second  of  the  divisions  into  which  I  have  chosen 
to  divide  the  Russian  Empire  for  consideration  of  physi- 
cal conditions,  is  just  about  as  large  as  Russia  in  Europe, 
being  considerably  over  two  million  square  miles  in  area. 
It  comes  as  soon  as  the  Ural  Mountains  are  crossed  and 
therefore  includes  a  very  little  of  European  Russia. 
Beginning  in  the  extreme  north,  there  is  the  subarctic 
region  inhabited  by  the  various  subdivisions  of  the 
Samoyedes.  The  flat  tundras  present  no  marked  fea- 
tures and  most  of  the  territory  consists  of  these  bleak, 
unprofitable  stretches.  It  is,  perhaps,  as  well  to  speak 
briefly  of  these  tundras  here,  because  the  word  must 
appear  quite  often  in  this  book.  They  are  the  broad 
belts  of  land  at  the  extreme  north  of  the  continents  of 
Europe  and  Asia  intervening  between  the  forests  and 
the  shores  of  the  Arctic  Ocean.  Many  sluggish  rivers 
and  their  tributaries,  free  of  ice  but  for  a  few  weeks  in 


PHYSICAL    RUSSIA  73 

the  summer,  cross  them  in  every  direction,  but  the 
ground  itself  is  completely  water-logged  and  frozen  to 
a  very  great  depth.  In  this  icy  ground  are  found  the 
remains  of  the  mammoths  which  tell  their  story  of  condi- 
tions in  the  far-off  past.  Generally  these  are  in  land- 
slips along  the  banks  of  rivers.  The  fossil  ivory  is  an 
important  article  of  export  from  Siberia. 

The  Samoyedes'  country  is  in  the  extreme  north  of 
the  great  government  of  Tobolsk;  there  are  large  bays 
indenting  the  coast,  but  they  are  of  little  economic  value. 
There  are  mountains  in  the  north  where  some  of  the 
peaks  attain  a  height  of  4000  feet  or  more;  but  the 
government  is  generally  of  a  lowland  character,  with 
extensive  grassy  steppes.  In  the  southern  part  of  these 
steppes  there  is  some  of  the  most  fertile  land  in  the 
Russian  Empire.  The  climate  is  extremely  severe; 
the  cold  of  winter,  when  icy  gales  from  the  north  sweep 
over  these  plains,  is  something  frightful ;  but  in  the  short 
summer,  when  70  °  F.  or  higher  is  not  uncommon  and  the 
bright  light  of  long,  almost  cloudless  days  stimulates  a 
vegetable  growth  that  is  almost  unknown  in  western 
Europe,  it  is  difficult  to  believe  it  the  same  land.  In 
some  parts  of  this  government,  the  almost  total  absence 
of  ground-slope  hinders  drainage,  and  the  surface  water 
accumulates  in  lakes  and  marshes.  In  these  latter  are 
found  the  urmans,  unprofitable  forests  and  quivering 
marshes  that  are  entered  by  the  inhabitants  for  but 
short  distances  near  the  widely  separated  settlements. 
"Immense  cedar-trees,  larches,  firs,  pines,  birches,  and 
maples  grow  very  densely,  and  the  undergrowth  is  so 
thick  that  a  passage  can  be  forced  only  with  the  aid  of 
the  hatchet,  the  difficulties  being  further  increased  by 
the  layers  of  decayed  wood  and  by  marshes.     To  cross 


74       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

these,  where  treacherously  concealed  under  a  swaying 
layer  of  grassy  vegetation,  a  kind  of  snowshoe  must  be 
used  in  summer,  and  many  can  be  crossed  only  in 
winter." 

The  government  of  Tomsk  has  a  most  varied  surface. 
In  the  southeast  are  the  high  alpine  tracts  of  the  Altai 
Mountains,  where  there  are  elevated  steppes;  and  in 
the  northwest  and  west  are  the  lowlands  of  the  Irtish 
and  the  Ob  marshes.  The  Altai  Mountains  cover,  in 
Russian  territory,  an  area  fully  three  times  that  of  the 
whole  of  Switzerland,  and  the  region  is  yearly  proving 
more  attractive  to  the  scientist  and  sportsman.  Peaks 
of  10,000  feet  are  numerous.  A  good  deal  of  work 
remains  to  be  done  by  competent  explorers  before  our 
orographic  knowledge  of  this  region  can  be  called  satis- 
factory. 

The  portion  of  Uralsk  which  lies  within  the  boundaries 
of  Asia  belongs  administratively  to  the  "Kirghiz  Prov- 
inces." It  is  nearly  all  flat  and  most  of  the  province 
is  below  sea-level.  The  large  province  of  Turgal  also 
belongs  to  the  Aral-Caspian  depression  and  it  is  mostly 
steppe,  although  there  are  some  places  in  the  northern 
part  where  the  undulating  plateau  of  the  Mugojar 
Hills  rises  to  something  like  1000  feet.  This  part  of 
the  Russian  Empire  is  in  the  wild  region  known  as  the 
Kirghiz  Steppes. 

The  southeastern  border  of  the  Syr-Daria  province  of 
Russian  Turkestan  runs  along  the  lofty  Tchotkat 
Mountains  whose  peaks  rise  to  14,000  or  15,000  feet, 
and  there  are  immense  glaciers ;  yet  here  again  our  knowl- 
edge of  orography  is  most  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory. 
The  major  part  of  Syr-Daria  is,  however,  steppe.  "As 
the  Tian-Shan  is  approached  the  steppe  takes  another 


Church   of  the   Resurrection,   St.    Petersburg 
(Memorial  to  Tsar  Alexander  II) 


PHYSICAL     RUSSIA  75 

character:  a  thick  covering  of  loess  girdles  the  foothills 
and  forms  the  fertile  soil  to  which  Turkestan  is  indebted 
for  its  rich  fields  and  gardens."  The  surface  of  Russian 
Turkestan  is  most  varied,  and  the  great  government 
still  holds  many  secrets  for  the  explorer  to  discover; 
but  guarded  as  they  are  by  the  jealous  Muscovite,  it  is 
doubtful  if  we  shall  know  this  region  well  for  many 
years  to  come.  Transcaspia  is  truthfully  said  to  be 
nine-tenths  uninhabitable  desert  and  one-tenth  of  very 
little  value:  the  greatest  interest  which  the  territory 
possesses  is  for  the  geologist  and  geographer.  Yet  there 
is  abundant  evidence  that  the  awful  desolation  is  not 
the  result  of  Mother  Nature's  act,  but  due  entirely  to 
the  wanton  act  of  man. 

The  next  physical  division  is  practically  wholly  in 
the  government  of  Irkutsk.  All  the  southern  portion  is 
mountainous,  especially  in  the  southwest;  no  part  of 
this  half  of  the  section  is  less  than  1,200  feet  above  sea- 
level,  while  some  peaks  rise  to  6000  to  8000  feet;  the 
wide  distribution  of  volcanic  remains  suggests  the 
geological  formation  and  the  physical  characteristics, 
and  gives  a  clue  to  the  interest  shown  by  scientists. 
In  the  north,  after  the  last  of  the  low  hills  have  been 
passed,  the  absolutely  uninteresting  tundras  stretch 
away  to  the  Arctic  shores.  Lake  Baikal  is  the  most 
important  physical  feature  of  this  section.  This  great 
fresh-water  sea  is  notorious  for  its  waywardness  —  for 
the  placid  surface  of  one  moment  can  be  transformed 
almost  instantaneously  into  lashing,  destructive  waves. 
The  surface  is  1,360  feet  above  the  sea;  the  greatest 
depth  is  upwards  of  300  fathoms,  and  the  area  is  about 
12,500  square  miles.  The  trans-Siberian  Railway  trains 
were,  for  a  long  time,  carried  across  on  ferryboats  in 


76       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

summer  and  as  late  in  the  winter  as  the  ice-breakers 
could  keep  open  a  fair  way;  then  recourse  was  had  to 
sledges,  and  there  was  a  rest-house  and  buffet  on  the  ice 
midway.  The  task  of  boring  the  many  necessary 
tunnels  through  the  tough,  adamantine  volcanic  rock 
along  the  south  shore  was  successfully  finished  some 
years  ago,  and  now  the  lake  route  is  abandoned,  save 
for  freight  in  summer. 

Transbaikalia,  about  the  size  of  Austria-Hungary, 
displays  much  physical  variety,  and  here  we  come  into 
touch  with  the  great  drainage  basins  of  eastern  Siberia, 
for  the  province  runs  off  into  the  Pacific  littoral.  Much 
of  the  region  displays  the  most  thoroughly  characteristic 
Siberian  features  of  tameness  and  monotony.  There 
are  several  mountain  ranges  of  some  importance  although 
none  of  the  peaks  are  high.  In  many  respects,  other 
than  physical,  this  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the 
political  divisions  of  Siberia.  The  Amur  region  may  be 
called  hilly  without  displaying  any  special  features; 
and  the  same  thing  is  to  be  said  of  the  Maritime  Province, 
or  Primorskaia,  including  Russia's  half  of  the  island  of 
Saghalien.  These  subsections  possess  great  interest, 
but  not  of  the  nature  to  be  discussed  in  this  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VII 

TEE  PEOPLE 

IT  is  not  my  intention  to  attempt  a  discussion  of  the 
ethnology  of  this  great  Russian  Empire,  absorb- 
ingly interesting  as  the  subject  is,  because  limitations  of 
space  forbid;  and  the  opportunities  for  studying  a 
goodly  number  of  widely  different  types  of  mankind, 
as  one  travels  by  train  across  Siberia,  supplied  quite 
sufficient  material  for  my  present  purposes.  At  Vladi- 
vostok, besides  the  Slav  of  many  gradations  of  blood  — 
from  that  which  may  be  called  pure  (although  that  is  a 
very  dangerous  and  elusive  word  to  use  in  this  connection) 
to  mixtures  that  have  thinned  out  the  original  stock 
almost  to  the  point  of  disappearance  —  one  meets  many 
types  of  mankind.  There  are  great  numbers  of  Chinese, 
thousands  of  Koreans,  some  Ainus,  and  other  people 
who  were  doubtless  indigenous  as  compared  with  the 
intruders  from  central  Asia  and  Europe. 

The  Maritime  Province  still  has  many  tribes  and 
small  stocks  of  natives,  but  the  blighting  influence  of 
European  civilisation  is  depressingly  noticeable.  A 
little  way  from  Vladivostok  there  still  remain  a  number 
of  descendants  of  the  Maniakhas  who  have  resisted  the 
contamination  of  Western  civilisation  to  a  remarkable 
degree,  although  they  have,  in  individual  cases,  evinced 
capacity  to  appropriate  the  good  features  thereof. 
These  people  are  frank,  generous,  kindly,  and  industri- 


78        RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

ous.  It  is  said  that  when  they  can  be  induced  to  enter 
domestic  service  they  make  faithful  and  intelligent 
servants. 

Most  of  the  villagers  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
region  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Maritime  Province, 
Primorskaia,    northern    Saghalien,    and    including    the 
peninsula  of  Kamschatka,  where  they  are  not  Russian 
settlers,    either    voluntary    or    convict,    are    half-breed 
Mongols  or  the  descendants  of  others  who  have  preserved 
a  surprising  degree  of  purity  in  the  strain  of  blood. 
All  of  those  who  may  be  called  truly  natives  have  quaint 
customs  and  curious  traditions.     Close  to  the  town  of 
Vladivostok,  there  yet  remain  traces  of  a  people  who 
must  have  made  considerable  progress  in  a  civilisation 
that  compared  not  unfavourably  with  our  own.     They 
were  able  to  mine  the  precious  metals  and  refine  them, 
and  had  a  mint  which  turned  out  coins  of  an  established 
value;    they  built  good  roads,  as  the  remains  of  some 
ninety  feet  wide  attest,  and  these  were  properly  crowned 
and  provided  with  ditches  on  both  sides.     Just  who  they 
were,  cannot  now  be  determined  positively;    but  they 
can  hardly  have  been  of  Chinese  origin  or  true  Mon- 
golians, for  they  were  conquered  long  ago  by  invading 
Chinese,  who  called  them  barbarians  and  who  killed 
nearly  all  the  men  and  carried  off  most  of  the  women 
into  captivity.     A  few  adults,  most  of  them  women, 
escaped   and  probably   some   children,   who   wandered 
away  to  the  eastward  amongst  neighbouring  tribes  and 
mixed  with  them.     The   descendants   of  these  people 
now  form  an  almost  distinct  colony  at  Olga  Bay  on  the 
shore  of  the  Japan   Sea,   east  of  Vladivostok.     They 
are  called  the  Tozi  and  bear  an  excellent  reputation. 
Far  away  to  the  north  of  Vladivostok,  there  are  yet  a 


THEPEOPLE  79 

number  of  small  tribes,  or  village  groups,  rather,  of  the 
brave  Chukchees  who  made  a  good  fight  against  the 
intruding  and  needlessly  aggressive  Russians  and  Cos- 
sacks; but  it  was  unavailing  and  they  wear  the  yoke  as 
patiently  as  can  be  expected.  They  still  hold  together 
in  small  communities  and  continue  to  practise  their  own 
old  customs.  Some  of  these  are  barbarous  in  the  ex- 
treme: for  example,  that  of  rolling  the  new-born  child 
naked  in  the  snow  to  harden  it  so  that  it  may  bear  ex- 
posure. Naturally  the  infant  mortality  is  great  and  the 
result  is  shown  in  the  decrease  in  number  of  these  people, 
who  are  —  save  for  an  occasional  penal  colony  —  about 
the  only  inhabitants  of  this  region  quite  up  to  the  Arctic 
shore. 

As  the  west-bound  traveller  by  train  passes  from  the 
Maritime  Province  at  Pogranichnaia  into  Manchuria, 
he  notes  the  difference  between  the  Russian  and  the 
Chinese  ways  of  doing  certain  things.  At  this  station 
there  are  two  custom  houses,  Russian  and  Chinese.  West- 
bound passengers  are  subjected  to  no  inconvenience, 
and  if  the  place  is  passed  at  night,  the  formality  of  asking 
if  the  passenger  has  any  dutiable  articles  is  deferred  until 
morning;  but  the  east-bound  passenger  is  haled  out  at 
any  hour  and  made  to  open  every  box  and  bag  and  ham- 
per, the  contents  being  strictly  inspected  and  duty 
levied  to  the  last  kopek.  After  crossing  Manchuria  and 
re-entering  Russian  territory  at  Man-dju-lie,  the  west- 
bound traveller  is  compelled  to  conform  strictly  to  Rus- 
sian ways,  no  matter  if  he  is  known  to  have  come  straight 
through  from  Vladivostok  and  had  no  opportunity  to 
make  purchases  by  the  way.  Here,  again,  for  the  east- 
bound  passenger  who  is  going  into  Chinese  territory, 
the  Chinese  customs  officers  are  exceedingly  considerate, 


80       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE    AND     ASIA 

while  those  who  are  going  right  through  to  Vladivostok 
are  excused  from  opening  their  luggage.  I  mention  this 
to  show  one  phase  of  the  peoples  with  whom  one  comes 
in  contact. 

In  Manchuria,  there  is  little  to  note  in  the  appearance 
of  the  people;  the  ordinary  traveller  calls  them  Chinese, 
and  such  they  are,  excepting  the  increasing  number  of 
Russians.  Soon,  however,  there  appear  the  interesting 
Buriats,  who  are  popular  with  the  Muscovites,  many  of 
the  settlers  and  free  convicts  (the  " ticket  of  leave"  men, 
so  to  speak)  having  taken  wives  from  among  these  people. 
Whether  or  not  the  Russian  bridegroom  conforms  to  one 
of  the  Buriat  customs  I  do  not  know,  but  I  very  much 
doubt  it;  for  amongst  the  Buriats  those  girls  are  most 
sought  after  in  marriage  who  have  already  borne  children, 
the  more  the  better,  and  if  by  different  fathers,  still 
better  yet  —  for  this  is  a  sure  sign  that  the  young  woman 
is  highly  esteemed  by  men.  These  popular  maidens 
make  faithful  wives  when  once  they  have  entered  the 
estate  of  matrimony. 

The  dress  of  the  Buriat  woman  is  elaborate  and  pic- 
turesque. On  each  side  of  the  face  there  project  from 
behind  the  ears  wide,  flat  plates  of  silver  that  are  skil- 
fully wrought  into  artistic  designs;  the  garments  evince 
the  usual  barbaric  fondness  for  bright  colours.  The 
women  ride  horseback  cross-saddle,  are  expert  horse- 
women, and  make  better  teamsters  than  do  the  men, 
and  in  this  capacity  are  much  sought  after  by  Russian 
farmers,  contractors,  and  officials.  When  the  time  comes 
that  it  ceases  to  be  with  them  after  the  manner  of  women, 
the  Buriat  dame  has  her  hair  cut  off  short  and  is  no  longer 
considered  a  wife,  even  though  her  husband  is  still  living. 
She  lays  aside  all  her  personal  ornaments  and  spends 


THEPEOPLE  8l 

most  of  her  time  turning  a  Buddhist  prayer-wheel, 
which  has  come  into  vogue  since  the  introduction  of 
that  religion.  On  the  periphery  of  the  wheel  are  written 
prayers,  or  "the  sacred  name  of  Buddha,"  and  each 
revolution  scores  just  so  many  credits  to  the  soul  of  the 
person  who  spins  it  around. 

These  Mongolian  Buriats  do  not  bury  their  dead ;  they 
simply  drag  the  corpse  outside  the  village  limits  and 
leave  it  to  be  devoured  by  dogs  and  vultures,  for  being 
Shamanists,  despite  the  fact  that  they  have  professed 
Buddhism  or  Christianity,  they  have  a  dread  of  digging 
in  the  ground  lest  they  may  incur  the  displeasure  of  the 
earth  spirits.  As  a  consequence  of  this  neglect  to  inter 
or  cremate  their  dead,  the  ground  all  about  the  Buriat 
settlements  and  even  near  their  temporary  summer 
encampments  is  covered  with  bones,  and  some  of  the 
scenes  enacted  by  these  people  are  most  repulsive  to  all 
Europeans  and  even  to  Chinese. 

Some  of  the  Russian  political  exiles  who  had  received 
the  education  fitting  them  for  the  task,  have  made 
careful  anthropological  and  linguistic  study  of  these 
native  Asiatics  with  whom  they  have  been  brought  into 
contact.  Most  of  these  Russian  students  contend  that 
a  similarity  in  physical  attributes,  language,  construction, 
and  other  characteristics  justifies  the  assertion  that  the 
North  American  Indians  and  certain  Mongolian  (or 
rather  Altaic)  races  must  have  sprung  from  the  same 
parent  stock,  and  that,  too,  within  historic  times. 
Personally,  I  subscribe  to  this  theory  only  so  far  as  to 
admit  the  probability  of  a  common  origin,  but  I  am 
strongly  inclined  to  accept  Count  Gobineau's  opinion 
that  America  was  the  original  home  of  the  yellow  and 
copper-coloured  races,  who  went  westward  at  an  im- 


82        RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

mensely  remote  period,  crossed  Behring  Strait  into  Asia, 
and  may  have  pushed  their  way  through  to  Europe 
about  the  time  that  that  continent  was  emerging  from 
its  last  glacial  covering.  Although  many  papers  written 
by  these  Russian  ethnologists  have  been  read  before 
local  (Siberian)  societies,  and  some  of  them  have  been 
printed  in  Transactions  or  other  journals,  it  is  a  pity 
that  so  very  few  of  them  have  been  translated  into 
English  or  one  of  the  European  languages  with  which 
many  of  us  are  familiar.* 

At  some  of  the  small  stations  east  of  Lake  Baikal,  the 
traveller  will  occasionally  see  a  man  or  a  woman,  and 
sometimes  a  whole  family,  from  one  or  another  of  the 
small  nations  that  have  their  homes  in  the  far  north  or 
northeast  of  Siberia  —  the  Chukchees,  the  Koryaks,  the 
Kamschadales,  the  Ghilyaks,  or  the  Tunguses.  Rarely, 
however,  is  there  anything  in  costume  (for  nearly  all  of 
them  adopt  a  motley  mixture  of  native  and  European 
dress,  most  conspicuously  the  Russian  fur  cap  and  long 
boots)  or  physical  appearance  to  mark  them  distinctively 
from  the  rest  of  the  crowd  that  always  gathers  to  see 
the  trains  pass  through;  and  unless  one  has  a  fellow- 
passenger  who  is  interested  and  competent  enough  to 
point  out  these  strangers  they  will  escape  notice.  It 
was  my  good  fortune  to  find  several  in  the  train  who 
could  do  this  favour  for  me.  I  frankly  confess  that 
Kropotkin's  comment,  "  European  civilisation  has  made 
them  familiar  with  all  its  worst  sides  and  with  none  of 
the  best,"  seemed  to  me  to  express  facts.  Around  and 
in  Irkutsk  the  number  of  Buriats  is  great;   but  so,  too, 

*For  further  interesting  information  concerning  these  Siberian 
people,  especially  the  Buriats,  the  reader  is  referred  to  "  Greater 
Russia,"  by  W.  Gerrare. 


THE     PEOPLE  83 

is  that  of  those  of  mixed  Buriat  and  Tungus  blood ;  while 
all  through  this  central  section  of  the  Siberian  railway 
many  evidences  are  seen  of  the  free  admixture  of  Russian 
and  Buriat,  Cossack  and  Buriat,  so  that  when  wearing 
the  Buriat  costume  there  is  nothing  to  distinguish  these 
half-breeds  from  the  true  Buriat. 

Going  still  westward,  the  presence  is  to  be  noted  of 
the  few  who  remain  of  the  Ugrian  stock  (an  Ural-Altaic 
people  who  at  one  time  must  have  been  very  numerous 
throughout  the  whole  region  from  the  Ural  Mountains 
eastward  to  the  Ob  River  and  southward  to  Tobolsk) 
the  Ostiaks,  the  Samoyedes,  and  the  Voguls.  With  all 
of  these  the  male  Russian  immigrant  has  intermarried 
freely,  and  because  the  union  is  usually  prolific,  while 
the  pure  stock  is  not  so  fertile,  it  can  be  but  a  short  time 
until  these  indigenes  will  have  disappeared.  Throughout 
southern  Siberia,  from  the  European  border  as  far  as 
Lake  Baikal,  there  are  yet  survivals  of  people  who  came 
from  Turkish  stock.  These,  too,  are  rapidly  losing  their 
identity  and  it  would  be  a  tedious  enumeration  of  un- 
familiar names  to  attempt  to  describe  the  almost  innu- 
merable subdivisions  which  the  strict  ethnologist  makes 
of  these  Turkestan  stocks.  They  have,  as  a  rule,  an 
excellent  reputation  for  industry  and  honesty.  Most  of 
them  are  cattle-raisers,  although  many  are  successful 
farmers  and  fruit-growers.  In  the  Central  Asia  prov- 
inces of  the  empire,  the  Muscovite  has  not  yet  materially 
influenced  the  habits  of  the  people,  nor  left  a  marked 
impression  through  intermarriage.  The  very  few  com- 
petent non-Russian  travellers  who  have  been  permitted 
to  travel  in  the  region,  and  the  fewer  yet  who  have  done 
so  surreptitiously  and  at  great  personal  risk,  are  fairly 
well  in  agreement  that  the  Russians,  after  effecting  con- 


84       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

quest,  are  considerate  in  their  non-interference  with 
habits,  customs,  and  even  religion,  and  display  remark- 
able success  in  converting  those  who  were  once  enemies 
into  staunch  friends.  This  subject  will  receive  some 
attention  in  a  later  chapter,  when  Russian  diplomacy  is 
to  be  considered.  ♦ 

The  Russian  in  Siberia  may  be  considered  in  two  ways : 
first,  as  to  his  preservation  of  individuality,  and  second, 
as  to  the  reason  for  being  in  that  country.  Of  the  first, 
it  may  be  said  that  many  preserve  most  tenaciously 
their  own  mode  of  life  and  are  instilling  into  the  natives 
with  whom  they  come  in  contact,  ideas  quite  outside  of 
and  in  advance  of  their  former  habit.  That  this  does 
not  often  bring  admirable  results  has  been  admitted  by 
most  observers  and  cannot  be  denied,  although  there 
are  exceptional  cases.  In  some  of  the  best  agricultural 
colonies,  especially  those  in  the  remote  east,  where 
Russian  families  have  gone  comparatively  more  than  to 
other  regions,  the  example  of  the  grain  and  dairy  farms 
has  borne  good  results;  for  it  is  not  alone  from  Siberian 
farms  under  Russian  management  that  the  markets  of 
European  Russia,  Berlin,  and  London  are  now,  in  part 
at  least,  supplied  with  eggs,  butter,  and  cheese.  Then 
there  are  the  many  —  by  far  the  majority  —  of  these 
Russian  men  who  go  alone  to  Siberia  where  they  take 
to  themselves  a  wife  from  among  the  native  women. 
Sufficient  time  has  elapsed  since  the  beginning  of  this 
custom,  under  modern  conditions,  to  enable  us  to  com- 
ment upon  the  results.  Physically,  these  are  good,  for 
the  offspring  are  usually  healthy,  if  not  always  industri- 
ous and  desirable  citizens.  In  other  respects,  the  results 
are,  to  say  the  least,  doubtful.  Usually  the  Russian 
husband  and  father  gives  up  his  own  language  and 


THEPEOPLE  85 

speaks  that  of  the  people  among  whom  he  has  cast  his 
lot;  it  is  wonderful  what  linguists  even  these  Russian 
peasants  are.  The  effort  of  the  local  priest  —  and  there 
is  rarely  a  settlement  too  small  or  too  remote  to  have  its 
"  Father  "  —  to  have  the  children  of  these  mixed  mar- 
riages baptised  and  brought  up  in  the  Orthodox  Church 
is  always  reasonably  successful;  for  no  matter  how 
depraved  physically  a  Russian  may  become,  his  super- 
stition —  if  nothing  else  —  keeps  him  a  strict  and  devout 
churchman. 

Of  the  peoples  of  European  Russia  it  is  impossible  to 
write  fully  because  of  the  restrictions  of  space,  and  it  is 
hardly  necessary,  for  all  know  so  much  about  them.  I 
shall  say  no  more  than  a  little  about  the  Jews.  This 
subject  is  one  that  would  seem  to  be  new  because  of  the 
importance  of  late  attached  to  it  by  many  Americans; 
and  certainly  it  is  an  awkward  one  to  discuss  without 
giving  offence  somewhere.  As  an  American,  and  one  of 
those  whose  ancestors  came  from  England  nearly  three 
hundred  years  ago;  brought  up  to  respect  and  uphold 
the  principle  of  our  Declaration  of  Independence:  "We 
hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are 
created  equal,  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  unalienable  Rights,  that  among  these  are 
Life,  Liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  Happiness,"  I  write. 
Feeling  thus,  I  should  like  to  see  Russia  afford  to  her 
Jewish  population  the  same  privileges  that  she  confirms 
to  all  the  rest ;  and  yet  when  I  contemplate  the  position 
that  the  United  States  has  taken  in  a  matter  which  is 
very  similar,  I  am  compelled  to  admit  that  we  are  rushing 
into  an  altogether  untenable  position  when  we  demand 
that  Russia  shall  grant  to  American  Jews  precisely  the 
same  rights  and  privileges  that  she  grants  to  American 


86       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Christians.  We  disfranchise  the  negro  citizen  and  we 
close  our  doors  to  Mongolian  Asiatics:  what  lawful 
right,  then,  have  we  to  say  that  Russia  shall  not  close 
hers  to  American  Jews?  Furthermore,  I  would  ask  the 
question:  Are  we  not  courting  trouble  for  ourselves  by 
insisting  upon  the  ratification  of  the  Arbitration  Treaties 
in  the  precise  form  they  now  have?  In  the  British 
Straits  Settlements  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  there  are 
many  pure  Chinese  who  are  bona  fide  British  subjects. 
This  is  their  right  by  birth,  as  well  as  because  both  their 
parents  were  born  in  those  same  British  dominions. 
Many  of  these  Chinese  are  wealthy  and  influential; 
some  of  them  are  members  of  the  City  Council  of  Singa- 
pore, some  are  magistrates,  and  plenty  of  others  occupy 
positions  of  trust  and  responsibility  in  the  Government. 
Suppose,  now,  that  we  were  to  ratify  the  Arbitration 
Treaties  without  modification  to  safeguard  the  position 
we  take  vis-a-vis  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  that  then  one 
of  these  Singapore  Chinese,  just  an  ordinary  workman, 
not  a  mere  coolie,  but  still  a  true  British  subject,  should 
demand  admission  into  the  United  States  upon  the  same 
terms  as  we  accord  to  any  other  of  the  faithful  subjects 
of  King  George,  and  that  the  British  Government 
should  support  him?  Again,  let  this  supposititious  case 
relate  to  a  Mongolian  subject  of  the  Tsar  of  Russia. 
When  the  inevitable  dispute  arose,  the  question  of  our 
right  to  discriminate  between  the  various  subjects  of 
these  friendly  sovereigns  would  be  submitted  to  arbitra- 
tion, and  it  would  be  considered  by  a  commission  the 
majority  of  whom  would  be  emphatically  against  us. 
The  decision  would  be  that  our  refusal  to  admit  the 
British  or  Russian  subject  is  declared  unlawful  discrimi- 
nation.    It  seems  to  me  that  apropos  of  this  question  of 


THEPEOPLE  87 

Russia's  treatment  of  the  Jews,  in  particular,  when  she 
is  alleged  to  show  unfair  and  insulting  discrimination 
against  American  citizens,  careful  attention  should  be 
given  to  the  position  taken  by  Senator  Lodge,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, in  his  speech  of  February  29,  191 2,  when  he 
made  a  strong  plea  to  the  American  Senate  asking  the 
elimination  from  the  general  treaties  of  arbitration  of 
the  full  power  given  to  the  High  Commission  of  Inquiry 
(without  intervention  of  the  Senate)  to  pass  upon  the 
arbitrability  of  disputes. 

It  is  quite  unnecessary  for  me  to  present  here  the 
argument  of  the  good  and  charitable  Americans,  with 
whose  fundamental  contentions  I  am  in  perfect  accord, 
who  are  agitating  so  vigorously  for  recognition  of  Jews' 
rights  which  shall  be  absolutely  equal  with  that  accorded 
themselves;  yet  there  is  a  very  strong  Russian  side  to 
this  consideration  and  it  deserves  serious  consideration. 
I  regret  as  much  as  any  man  can  that  Russia  continues 
her  long-established  policy  of  illiberality  and  unfair 
discrimination  against  the  Jews  as  a  race;  yet  we  must 
bear  in  mind  that  her  attitude  has  undergone  no  change 
in  many  years,  and  that  for  ourselves  there  is  now 
no  sudden  emergency,  except,  possibly,  an  impending 
presidential  election,  which  calls  for  prompt,  not  to  say 
precipitate,  action.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  in  the 
Russian  dominions  more  than  one  half  of  all  the  Jews  in 
the  whole  world,  over  five  millions  of  them,  and  it  is 
admitted  that  the  Government  of  that  country  is  trying 
to  reduce  the  number,  towards  the  accomplishment  of 
which  desire  they  have  enacted  laws  and  enforced  regu- 
lations which  are  indisputably  within  their  sovereign 
rights.  The  Government,  that  is  the  Tsar,  is  acting  in 
conformity  with  the  wishes  of  all  the  people,  excluding 


88       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

only  those  five  million  Jews,  and  if  there  should  come 
an  upheaval  and  the  form  of  government  be  changed 
from  an  autocratic  monarchy  to  an  absolutely  repre- 
sentative republic,  one  of  the  few  laws  the  national 
legislature  would  leave  unchanged  upon  the  statute 
books  is  that  which  excludes  the  Jews  from  Great 
Russia. 

The  Russian  objection  to  the  Jew  is  not  based  upon 
religious  grounds,  for,  with  all  their  prejudice  in  favour 
of  their  own  religion,  the  Orthodox  (Greek)  Church, 
and  with  all  their  seeming  arrogance  in  considering 
themselves  "The  Lord's  Anointed,"  the  sole  upholders 
of  the  Faith  in  the  Eastern  Empire,  and  successors  in 
direct  descent  of  the  Eastern  (Byzantine)  Church,  they 
are  reasonably  tolerant  and  even  broad  in  religious 
matters.  Only  a  few  years  ago  the  census  returns 
showed  that  there  were  in  the  capital,  St.  Petersburg,  the 
seat  of  government  and  the  headquarters  of  the  Holy 
Synod,  churches  of  the  Roman  Catholic  communion, 
the  Anglican  established  Church,  various  Protestant 
denominations,  a  Jewish  synagogue,  even  a  Moslem 
mosque,  and  a  number  of  chapels  for  the  many  dissenters 
from  the  Orthodox  Church.  It  is  true  that  there  has 
been  much  persecution  of  the  Russian  dissenters  and 
that,  at  times,  the  pathway  of  Protestants  has  not  been 
an  easy  one  —  witness  the  troubles  of  the  Baptists  only 
last  year. 

Yet  the  antipathy  to  the  Jew  is  not  because  he  stands 
as  the  descendant  and  representative  of  those  who  slew 
our  Lord.  The  main  reason  for  the  hatred  is  a  personal 
one.  The  Government  dislikes  him  because  he  takes 
all  that  is  given  him,  or  that  he  can  get,  by  means  that 
are  rarely  commendable,  and  tries  his  best  to  evade  the 


THEPEOPLE  89 

one  chief  duty  of  a  good  Russian  subject,  that  of  being 
a  soldier.  In  1874  Russia  adopted  the  same  plan  which 
has  been  followed  elsewhere,  and  made  military  service 
universal.  This  action,  of  course,  forced  the  Jew  into 
the  army;  but  in  twenty-six  governments  along  the 
western  frontier,  where  the  Jews  are  very  numerous,  ten 
of  them  being  in  Poland,  statistics  for  the  years  1876  to 
1883,  inclusive,  showed  that  there  were  in  those  districts 
nearly  one  hundred  thousand  Jewish  deserters.  Since 
then  these  reports  have  been  discontinued,  but  it  is 
estimated  that  fully  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
Jews  who  were  called  upon  to  bear  arms  have  failed  to 
appear,  or  they  have  made  their  way  out  of  the  country, 
or  for  physical  reasons  (frequently  self-inflicted  injury) 
have  successfully  evaded  duty. 

Almost  every  Russian,  when  asked  why  he  hates  the 
Jews,  replies  to  this  effect:  because  they  bring  nothing 
into  the  country;  rather  they  take  or  send  out  all  they 
can,  and  while  in  the  country  they  make  the  peasants 
their  slaves  and  live  only  for  the  sake  of  squeezing  money 
out  of  everything :  they  themselves  are  never  and  cannot 
be  peasants,  producing  something  from  the  land  that 
enures  to  the  benefit  of  the  entire  commonwealth. 

It  is  not  alone  in  America  that  the  cause  of  the  Jew, 
as  directed  against  Russia,  has  assumed  the  proportions 
and  importance  of  propaganda  and  concrete  action. 
Much  the  same  thing  is  to  be  noticed  in  Great  Britain, 
where  it  is  even  alleged  that  merchants  and  manufac- 
turers are  not  allowed  to  send  their  Jewish  employees 
into  Russia;  that  the  Jews  in  Russia  are  hindered  and 
persecuted  in  every  way;  and,  indeed,  are  not  allowed 
to  engage  in  business  at  all  outside  of  the  restricted 
districts   wherein   they   are   "  confined,"   or   in   certain 


90       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

villages.  The  Fortnightly  Review  *  gives  space  to 
Baron  Heyking,  Russian  Consul- General  at  London, 
to  controvert  this  allegation.  He  declares  that  the 
Russian  Government  places  no  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  the  entry  of  Jewish  business  representatives  of 
foreign  commercial  and  industrial  firms.  Such  agents 
are  given  a  visa  by  the  proper  consular  officers  in 
precisely  the  same  way  as  the  passports  of  Christians 
are  endorsed;  in  both  cases  the  visa  being  good  for  six 
months. 

One  concrete  objection  to  the  Jews  in  Russia  is  their 
remarkable  fecundity.  The  rate  of  increase  of  the  Jewish 
population  is  nearly  double  that  of  the  Slav.  There  are 
some  interesting  comparisons  to  be  drawn  between  the 
restrictions  on  political  and  social  rights  which  France 
and  her  colonies,  the  United  States  and  her  overseas' 
possessions,  the  British  Empire,  and  other  countries 
put  upon  certain  classes,  and  the  attitude  of  Russia 
vis-a-vis  the  Jew.  There  are,  truly,  but  few  who  are 
justified  in  throwing  the  first  stone.  Baron  Heyking 
emphasises  a  point  which  has  been  already  mentioned: 
that  if  Russia  should  give  unrestricted  rights  and  privi- 
leges to  the  Jews,  the  same  as  are  accorded  other  subjects, 
the  most  numerous  and  most  helpless  class,  the  peasants, 
would  be  exposed  to  rapacity;  and  it  is  for  this  very 
reason  that  most  of  the  Russian  Jews  are  kept  within 
certain  territorial  limits.  "The  restriction  does  not, 
however,  apply  to  those  Jews  who  are  merchants  of  the 
first  guild;  that  is,  who  are  not  small  traders,  nor  to 
persons  employed  by  them,  nor  to  artisans,  graduates, 
or  undergraduates  preparing  for  examinations;  pro- 
fessional persons,  such  as  doctors,  lawyers,  and  dentists; 

*  January  12,  191 2. 


THEPEOPLE  91 

and  such  persons  as  chemists,*  assistants  of  chemists, 
mid  wives,  etc.  In  the  case  of  all  these  Jews,  who  can 
prove  that  they  are  engaged  in  useful  and  self-supporting 
occupations,  no  limitation  exists  to  the  rights  of  settling 
in  whatever  part  of  the  Empire  they  may  choose.  Jews 
may  be  members  of  the  Duma  from  any  constituency  in 
Russia.^  Only  the  unproductive,  the  host  of  middlemen 
of  all  kinds,  and  those  persons  who  have  not  qualified 
for  a  particular  trade  recognised  by  law,  are  confined  to 
certain  territorial  limits.  These  limits  are  often  described 
as  comprising  only  a  small  stretch  of  land,  where  the 
Jews  are  crowded  together  and  have  no  possibility  of 
earning  an  honest  livelihood.  Let  us  see  if  this  is  really 
the  case.  Since  the  time  of  Vladimir  Monomach,  Jews 
have  been  forbidden  to  enter  Russian  territory,  but  they 
were  allowed  to  settle  in  the  kingdoms  of  Poland  and 
Lithuania.  It  was  only  on  the  incorporation  of  these 
states  into  her  domains  that  Russia,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  acquired  a  large  number  of  Jewish  subjects. 
They  were  allowed  to  remain  where  they  were,  but  they 
did  not  obtain  the  right  to  enter  Russia  proper.  Since 
that  time  the  limits  of  the  territory  open  to  them  has 
been  steadily  increased.  This  territory  comprises  at 
present  twenty-six  provinces,  with  an  area  of  896,000 
square  versts  (1  sq.  v.  =  0.44  sq.  ml.),  a  territory  which 
surpasses  in  size  the  largest  states  of  Western  Europe; 
it  is  double  the  size  of  both  France  and  Germany;  and  it 
is  two  and  one  half  times  the  size  of  Great  Britain. 
It  can,  therefore,  hardly  be  said  that  the  Jews  in  Russia 
are  crowded  together.  Within  the  same  territorial 
limits   dwell   forty-four   million    Christians,    a   number 

*  Chemists  is  here  used  in  the  sense  of  apothecary,  druggist. 
fThe  emphasis  is  mine.  —  J.  K.  G. 


92        RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

eight  times  as  large  as  that  of  the  Jews,  without  suffering 
from  any  congestion.  The  Jews  have,  in  the  course  of 
time,  obtained  more  and  more  ample  rights,  and  their 
present  position  will  certainly  continue  to  improve 
provided  they  refrain  from  revolutionary  propaganda, 
and  that  they  identify  themselves  with  the  interests  of 
the  Russian  State  as  a  whole.  The  only  possible  solution 
of  the  so-called  Jewish  question  in  Russia  is  that  the 
Jews  should  make,  whole-heartedly,  common  cause  with 
the  rest  of  the  population  of  the  Empire.  If  they  do 
this,  the  last  trace  of  the  restrictions  on  their  rights  as 
compared  with  those  of  Christians  is  bound  to  disappear 
automatically."  That  there  is  no  tangible  evidence  of 
this  requisite  whole-hearted  co-operation,  the  most 
casual  observer  who  has  had  the  opportunity  to  study 
conditions  in  Russia,  must  admit.  For  myself,  I  must 
say  I  failed  to  discover  any  satisfying  signs  of  it  from 
Vladivostok  to  the  Polish  frontier. 

I  dislike  to  indulge  in  remarks  which  may  seem  per- 
sonal, and  yet  I  cannot  refrain  from  commenting  upon 
the  appearance  of  the  Russian  Jew  at  home,  for  it  is  a 
subject  that  is  closely  related  to  what  has  just  been 
written,  and  what  I  shall  say  serves  to  emphasise  the 
statement  that  he  seeks  to  keep  himself  out  of  the  ranks 
of  his  Christian  fellow-countrymen,  to  discourage  friendly 
association  with  them.  It  is  a  rare  thing  when  the  Jew 
in  every  part  of  the  Russian  Empire  is  not  distinguishable 
at  a  glance.  The  physiognomy  identifies  him  at  once; 
the  long  hair  is  not  particularly  different  from  that  of 
many  others,  but  the  curious  curl  that  hangs  down  in 
front  of  each  ear  is  distinctly  typical  and  unique.  The 
black  alpaca  or  cloth  cap  that  is  set  back  on  the  crown 
of  the  head  and  has  a  long  visor  is  another  unmistakable 


THEPEOPLE  93 

sign,  for  it  is  quite  different  from  the  cap  worn  by  porters 
and  peasants.  The  Jew  sometimes  replaces  this  by  a 
peculiarly  characteristic  hat.  The  black  gaberdine 
which  recalls  Shylock;  the  almost  invariable  umbrella 
(something  most  uncommon  with  the  true  Muscovite) ; 
and  the  shabby  bag,  for  the  Jewish  man  in  Russia  is 
very  peripatetic  within  the  limits  put  upon  his  wander- 
ings and  always  seems  to  be  going  on  and  on:  all  these 
stamp  him  unmistakably.  It  is  not  easy  to  say  which 
comes  first  in  the  Jew's  esteem,  the  Talmud  and  its  ex- 
pounders, or  the  gold  that  he  is  always  seeking.  The 
women  and  the  children,  too,  are  unmistakable,  and  all 
these  descendants  of  Abraham  are  —  must  I  write  the 
word?  —  dirty;  although  cleanliness  is  decidedly  not  a 
conspicuous  trait  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes  in  any 
part  of  Russia.  In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that  there 
is  some  reason  for  the  Russians'  dislike  of  the  Jew,  and 
certain  it  is  that  most  of  the  statements  declaring  and 
denouncing  persecution,  segregation,  and  injustice,  like 
those  referring  to  many  other  subjects  —  the  convict 
system,  for  example — have  been  greatly  exaggerated. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

TEE  CITIES  AND   TOWNS 

AS  an  almost  necessary  complement  to  the  last 
chapter  comes  some  consideration  of  Russian 
urban  physical  and  social  conditions,  because  it  is  here 
that  one  meets  all  classes  of  the  people  and  sees  something 
of  what  are,  perhaps,  the  most  interesting  phases  of 
society.  And  first  I  must,  in  all  frankness,  say  that  for 
Russia's  own  sake  it  would  be  well  if  all  travellers  could, 
as  we  did,  make  their  first  acquaintance  with  these 
centres  of  population  by  coming  from  the  East.  Es- 
pecially is  this  true  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  European 
Russia.  To  arrive  at  Warsaw,  or  even  St.  Petersburg, 
after  having  a  few  hours  before  left  Berlin,  with  its 
broad,  clean  asphalt  streets,  its  neat  and  finished  ap- 
pearance, or  to  make  one's  way  up  from  Vienna,  attract- 
ive and  inviting  in  every  way,  to  Moscow,  brings  a 
shock  to  one's  sense  of  fitness  that  it  is  well  to  avoid,  if 
possible. 

The  largest  cities  of  Russia  have  scarcely  a  decent 
street  among  them.  When  the  visitor  first  makes  ac- 
quaintance with  St.  Petersburg,  the  capital,  it  does  not 
matter  from  which  direction,  upon  leaving  the  railway 
station  he  finds  himself  facing  one  of  the  great,  dusty, 
dirty  squares  with  which  he  soon  becomes  familiar, 
for  they  are  scattered  all  over  the  city;  and  he  is  at  once 
confronted  by  a  crowd  of  cabbies  and  droshky  drivers. 


THE     CITIES     AND     TOWNS  95 

The  same  conditions,  with  some  allowance  for  the  place, 
obtain  at  all  the  other  cities.  A  very  few  years  ago,  the 
only  hackney  carriages  in  Russia  were  the  famous  drosh- 
kies,  the  smallest  vehicle  of  its  kind  in  the  world  until, 
perhaps,  the  Japanese  " pull-man  car,"  the  jinrikisha, 
came  to  be  popular  in  other  lands  than  that  of  its  origin. 
There  are  still  many  of  the  droshkies,  but  the  Russian 
droshky  is  different  from  the  public  cab  which  goes  by 
the  same  name  in  Germany,  and  they  are  well  patronised 
by  Russians,  who  seem  to  be  able  to  stow  themselves 
away  in  these  tiny  boxes  with  a  comfort  that  is  incom- 
prehensible to  the  stranger.  The  latter  prefers  the  larger, 
more  comfortable  barouche  or  landau ;  and  carriage-fares 
in  Russia  are  one  of  the  few  things  that  are  actually 
cheap.  A  barouche  large  enough  for  four  or  five  adults, 
or  a  whole  family,  within  reasonable  limits,  will  take 
them  all  to  any  part  of  the  city  for  a  couple  of  roubles, 
or  a  trifle  over  a  dollar,  after  the  regular  bargaining,  of 
course,  for,  except  in  a  very  few  reputable  shops, 
one  never  pays  at  once  what  is  demanded.  When  the 
station  porter  (a  most  cheerful,  accommodating  fellow 
and,  as  a  rule,  remarkably  honest)  or  the  traveller  himself 
has  arranged  the  fare,  it  is  astonishing  what  a  quantity 
of  heavy  luggage  the  cabby  piles  up  behind  or  with 
himself  on  the  box;  trunks,  valises,  boxes  are  cared  for 
without  any  demur  or  demand  for  extra  pay  in  a  manner 
that  is  a  pleasing  surprise  after  experiences  in  other 
European  cities. 

But  whether  it  is  droshky,  landau,  or  barouche,  the 
drivers  will  all  look  alike ;  they  have  aptly  been  described 
as  resembling  old  women  wearing  a  low-crowned  top  hat 
with  a  wide,  much-curved  brim,  for  the  long  blue  dressing- 
gown  that  reaches  from  the  neck  to  the  heels  completely 


96        RUSSIA     IN      EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

carries  out  the  resemblance.  They  all  seem  to  have  the 
same  mild,  sleepy,  benignant  expression,  and  the  same 
obsequious,  almost  cowed  manner,  as  if  the  knout  were 
still  not  an  unknown  thing  to  them  —  and  I  suspect  it 
is  not.  The  thickly  wadded  gown  is  worn  in  all  seasons, 
mid- winter  or  scorching  summer,  and  is  enough  to 
efface  all  suggestion  of  proportions,  although  there  is  a 
girdle  which  indicates  about  where  the  waist-line  should 
be.  How  these  men  can  stand  such  a  garment  in  sum- 
mer, is  a  puzzle,  for  the  heat  at  St.  Petersburg  in  July 
and  August,  despite  the  fact  that  the  latitude  is  6o° 
north,  is  sometimes  great  in  the  middle  of  the  day, 
although  the  air  may  even  then  be  very  keen  at  night. 
As  there  is  no  strap  or  cord  to  pull  and  attract  the  driver's 
attention,  there  is  no  way  to  communicate  with  him  after 
he  is  once  started;  for  a  pull  at  his  gown  cannot  affect 
him,  and  to  poke  him  in  the  back  with  stick  or  umbrella 
makes  just  as  much  impression  as  it  would  on  any  other 
feather-bed!  You  are  given  time  to  pack  away  belong- 
ings and  seat  yourself  and  then,  with  a  "Hold  on,  in 
God's  name,  little  father!"  away  you  go.  Jehu  son  of 
Nimshi  would  not  have  been  in  it,  bumping  and  jolting 
over  streets  so  bad,  that  an  ordinary  country  lane  in 
Germany,  France,  or  England  would  resent  the  insult  of 
being  likened  to  it. 

In  all  the  Russian  cities  the  streets  are  wide  and  almost 
all  of  them  shabby.  In  St.  Petersburg  they  are  graded 
according  to  their  importance  and  the  section  of  the  city, 
as  prospekts,  oulitzi,  and  peroulak,  or  shall  I  say  boulevard, 
rue,  and  passage?  but  even  the  peroulak  would  be  called 
a  broad  street  in  any  other  city  of  Europe.  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  there  are  no  narrow  alleys  or  dismal 
courts  and  closes  in  the  Russian  cities,  for  they  have  their 


THE     CITIES    AND     TOWNS  97 

slums;  nor  would  I  deny  that  Nevski-prospekt,  the  broad 
street  along  the  Neva,  and  some  others  are,  in  places, 
worthy  of  the  name,  but  they  are  exceptional.  There 
are  now  some  really  fine  magasins  (stores),  but  not  many, 
and  these  are  so  patently  un-Russian  that  they  do  not 
count.  The  real  Russian  shop  is,  as  a  rule,  a  pitiful 
little  place.  The  name  of  the  proprietor,  or  that  of  the 
place  (the  " Bull's  Head"  sort  of  terminology),  and  the 
character  of  the  goods,  are  indicated  by  those  bewildering 
half  Greek,  half  reversed  or  inverted  Roman  letters, 
which  testify  to  the  Greek  origin  of  the  Russian  literature 
and  religion.  The  walls  are  often  covered  all  over  with 
pictures  of  what  is  offered  for  sale,  a  wise  thing,  because 
a  terrible  percentage  of  the  Russians  are  illiterate ;  coats, 
gowns,  boots,  bags,  valises,  for  one,  and  an  equally 
appropriate  selection  for  others. 

The  variety  of  styles,  schools,  and  periods  in  St. 
Petersburg's  architecture  is  bewildering,  and  it  is  small 
wonder  that  Miskewickz,  the  native  poet,  declares  that 
while  human  hands  built  Rome  and  divine  hands  created 
Venice,  yet  he  who  looks  over  St.  Petersburg  cannot 
but  exclaim,  "This  city  is  the  work  of  the  devil!"  Peter 
the  Great  began  the  work  of  creating  St.  Petersburg,  in  a 
place  of  which  a  Minister  of  State  afterwards  declared 
to  Catherine  II,  when  the  Tsarina  complained  of  the 
climate:  "What  can  Your  Majesty  expect  if  man  pre- 
sumes to  build  a  city  where  God  never  intended  one  to 
be,  having  created  the  place  marked  out  by  Him  to  be 
the  abode  of  wild  beasts  only?"  The  beginning  of  the 
city  was  in  1703.  Since  then  it  has  grown  far  beyond 
Peter's  dream,  and  years  would  not  be  too  long  a  time 
to  stay  there  if  one  wishes  to  study  its  history  and  de- 
velopment, its  churches,  palaces,  public  buildings,  and 


98       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

exhaust  the  possibilities  of  its  art  galleries  and  museums, 
besides  the  thousands  of  other  interesting  sights.  I  dare 
not  begin,  for  I  am  so  fond  of  St.  Petersburg  that  there 
would  be  no  space  left  for  Siberia;  and  I  felt  so  com- 
fortable in  the  spacious,  well-arranged  rooms  of  "The 
Hermitage"  that  few  of  the  other  galleries  of  Europe 
appealed  to  me  so  strongly. 

Moscow  takes  sarcastic  pride  in  three  things  —  at 
least  so  it  seemed  her  citizens  tried  to  impress  upon  me: 
the  largest  bell  in  the  world,  but  one  that  never  was 
rung;  the  largest  old-time  cannon,  but  one  that  never 
was  fired;  and  the  vilest  streets  in  Christendom.  Yet 
Moscow  has  its  Kremlin.  I  noticed  that  even  Russian 
writers  give  a  capital  initial  letter  to  Moscow's  Kremlin 
only;  although,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  a  common  noun, 
and  every  city  in  the  land  has,  or  had,  or  might  have 
had  its  kremlin.  It  is  simply  a  Tartar  word,  probably 
somewhat  distorted,  and  means  " fortress."  But  The 
Kremlin  of  Moscow  means  something  more  than  that. 
As  Hare  says:  "What  the  Acropolis  is  to  Athens,  or 
the  Capitol  to  Rome,  that  the  Kremlin  is  to  Moscow."  * 

From  far  away,  as  the  traveller  approaches  Moscow 
in  any  direction  across  the  level  country,  the  great  tower 
of  Ivan  Veliki  reaches  up  to  identify  the  Kremlin.  At 
the  foot  of  this  tower  still  stands  Tsar  Kolokol,  "The 
Emperor  of  Bells";  only  that  which  we  now  see  is  a 
recast,  made  in  1733  from  the  materials  of  an  older  bell 
that  the  infamous  Boris  Godunoff  had  made.  By  giving 
the  city  a  bell  that  weighed  288,000  pounds  he  thought 
to  atone  for  the  crimes  —  young  Dmitri's  murder  and 
many  others  —  that  caused  the  blood  to  flow,  through 
which  he  waded  to  the  Russian  J-rone;   his  sole  claim 

*  "  Studies  in  Russia,"  Augustus  J.  C.  Hare. 


The   Big   Cannon,    Kremlin,    Moscow 


Alexander    II    Monument,    Moscow 


THE     CITIES     AND     TOWNS  99 

being  that  he  had  married  the  sister  of  the  imbecile  Tsar 
Feodor  (1584-98),  the  second  son  and  successor  of  Ivan 
the  Terrible ;  but  his  lust  for  power  gave  excuses  in  plenty 
and  brooked  nothing.  As  it  seemed  to  be  the  rule  to 
measure  the  piety  of  Russian  Tsars  and  Tsarinas  by  the 
size  of  the  bells  they  gave  to  the  people,  Anne,  Duchess 
of  Courland  and  Tsarina  from  1730  to  1740  (and  almost 
as  bad  a  lot  as  Boris!),  ordered  the  big  bell  recast  and 
added  2000  pounds  of  metal.  Peasants  still  visit  the 
bell  on  saints'  days  and  high  festivals,  just  as  they  go  to 
the  churches,  as  an  act  of  devotion.  A  fire  in  1737 
extended  to  the  temporary  shed,  whence  the  monster 
had  not  yet  been  removed,  and  in  attempting  to  ex- 
tinguish the  flames,  somebody  threw  cold  water  on  the 
hot  bell  causing  it  to  crack  and  a  great  piece  to  fall  from 
one  side.  The  myth  that  it  was  broken  in  a  fall  from  a 
proper  bell-tower  has  no  foundation  in  fact. 

"  Icons  —  pictures  covered  with  metal  except  the 
faces  and  hands  —  are  of  Byzantine  origin,  and  all  the 
most  ancient  icons  are  the  work  of  Greek  artists,  who  had 
Russian  pupils;  it  has  never  been  permissible  to  alter  the 
type.  A  miraculous  icon — and  there  are  many  of  these — 
is  usually  affirmed  to  be  pointed  out  by  a  vision,  and  then 
to  be  found  buried  in  the  earth,  or  hanging  in  a  tree; 
but  its  miraculous  qualities  must  be  recognised  by  'the 
Most  Holy  Synod,'  before  it  is  given  to  the  adoration  of 
the  orthodox.  The  most  ordinary  icons,  however,  re- 
ceive greater  veneration  than  any  of  the  images  in  Roman 
Catholic  churches."  *  In  the  little  Cathedral  of  the 
Annunciation,  in  the  Kremlin,  there  is  still  preserved 
and  shown  on  great  days  or  upon  proper  authority,  one 
of  the  most  famous  of  these  icons.     It  is  called  "The 

*  Hare. 


IOO       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Virgin  of  the  Don."  It  is  impossible  to  see  anything 
more  than  the  metal  plates,  but  very  likely  it  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  Don  Cossacks :  it  was  carried  at  the 
famous  battle  of  Kulikovo,  1380,  when  Dmitri  Donskoi 
gained  the  first  victory  over  the  Mongols;  and  it  was 
taken  out  again  by  Boris  Godunoff  in  1591,  when  he 
defended  the  city  against  the  attack  of  the  Khan  of  the 
Crimea  —  that  was  during  the  reign  of  Boris'  brother-in- 
law,  Tsar  Feodor.  The  Russians  tell  how  the  French, 
under  Napoleon,  were  miraculously  blinded  when  they 
looked  at  this  icon,  the  frame  of  which  is  of  pure  gold, 
and  rejected  it  as  being  nothing  but  copper.  The 
Cathedral  of  the  Archangel  deserves  more  attention  than 
I  can  give  it.  Here  are  the  tombs  of  many  Tsars,  but 
most  famous  of  all  is  that  of  the  child  Dmitri,  of  whom 
I  have  already  written.  "  Whence  art  thou  that  thou 
knowest  not  the  tomb  of  Saint  Dmitri?"  indignantly 
asks  the  Russian. 

The  temptation  is  strong  to  linger  in  the  Kremlin, 
about  which  a  whole  book  could  easily  be  written;  to 
tell  something  of  the  Inner  Circle  of  Moscow  City,  from 
which  the  Tartars  expelled  the  Christians  when  they 
captured  the  city;  of  the  Outer  Circle  that  merges  off 
into  the  suburbs  and  the  country;  of  the  famous  mon- 
asteries near  Moscow;  of  Sparrow  Hills  where  Napoleon 
had  his  first  view  and  pretty  nearly  succumbed  to  the 
disappointment  caused  by  the  burning  of  the  city,  upon 
whose  stores  he  had  counted  to  supply  his  army  through 
that  memorable  winter;  but  this  must  be  resisted.  I 
must,  too,  pass  over  the  other  cities  and  interesting  towns 
of  Russia  in  Europe:  Cronstadt,  Riga,  Archangel,  War- 
saw, Odessa,  Sebastopol,  Batoum,  Baku,  Kieff,  Nov- 
gorod-the-Great,  Nijni-Novgorod  and  its  Fair,  Samara, 


■ 

) 


THE     CITIES     AND     TOWNS  IOl 

Tula,  and  other  places  that  are  typical  of  new,  industrial 
Russia,  "The  New  America,"  as  the  people  themselves 
call  it.  I  am  reconciled  to  this  in  a  measure,  because 
others  have  written  so  much  about  these  places;  while 
of  the  Siberian  towns,  not  so  much  has  been  said  and, 
in  their  way,  they  also  are  very  interesting. 

Cheliabinsk,  although  not  in  Asia,  is  really  the  first 
Siberian  town  that  the  eastbound  traveller  by  the  trans- 
Siberian  Railway  will  reach,  and  even  before  getting 
there,  while  passing  through  the  Ural  Mountains,  there 
will  be  many  evidences  of  the  transition  from  Russia  in 
Europe.  The  derricks  of  the  oil-wells  will  have  a  familiar 
look  to  the  American.  Other  manufacturing  and  indus- 
trial enterprises  will  be  a  revelation  to  all;  while  the 
magnificent  virgin  forests  will  speak  volumes  for  the 
future.  Cheliabinsk  is  now  an  important  railway  junc- 
tion and  division  point,  and  for  Siberia  it  is  an  old  town, 
for  it  was  founded  in  1658  and  was  named  for  the  Baskir 
Cheliab,  from  whom  the  land  was  bought  "for  a  song!" 
The  roads  —  they  cannot  be  called  "streets"  —  are  not 
even  crowned  or  worked  in  any  way,  and  of  course,  there 
is  no  sign  of  macadam  or  pavement.  The  houses  are 
all  of  wood,  rough,  unpainted,  and  unattractive,  not- 
withstanding that  there  is  plenty  of  good  building  stone 
right  at  hand.  The  churches,  too,  are  built  of  wood  and 
not  painted,  but  then  that  is  characteristic  of  nearly 
all  Siberia.  The  railway  station  comes  nearest  to  having 
architectural  and  aesthetic  aspirations  of  any  building 
in  the  town. 

The  place  already  indicates  something  of  what  may 
be  in  the  future ;  for  there  are  grain  elevators,  some  large 
and  well-equipped  flourmills,  and  a  distillery  of  vodka. 
Immense  numbers  of  sheep  are  slaughtered  annually, 


102       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND  ASIA 

and  their  hides  are  tanned  and  tallow  tried  out.  Fairs 
are  held  twice  a  year,  in  May  and  October,  which  are 
attended  by  great  numbers  of  people  of  all  sorts  and 
conditions.  The  most  important  thing  to  be  said  about 
Cheliabinsk  is  that  it  is  the  place  where  all  Russian  emi- 
grants going  into  Siberia  must  register.  This  statement 
will  tend  to  confirm  what  is  said  elsewhere  about  the 
absolute  necessity  for  even  a  Russian  subject  to  have  a 
passport  before  he  can  move  from  one  place  to  another. 
As  this  registration  is  a  matter  of  great  moment,  these 
emigrants  are  detained  for  some  time,  and  there  are, 
therefore,  great  barracks,  large  and  well-equipped 
hospitals,  and  stores  for  their  accommodation  and 
service;  while  the  offices,  the  official  residences,  and  the 
quarters  for  the  troops  who  act  as  police,  give  to  the 
locality  an  air  of  importance  greater  than  it  really  has. 
I  inferred  from  what  I  had  seen  all  through  Siberia, 
whenever  we  met  trains  of  emigrants,  as  well  as  from 
what  was  told  me,  that  the  physical  examination  at 
Cheliabinsk  is  very  superficial.  In  the  summer  there 
are  crowds  of  these  emigrants  from  all  parts  of  European 
Russia,  and  some  from  beyond  the  empire.  They  are 
interesting  ethnologically,  but  not  in  any  other  way. 

At  Cheliabinsk,  the  railway  which  comes  a  little  more 
direct  than  that  via  Moscow,  from  St.  Petersburg,  the 
one  by  the  way  of  Ekaterinburg,  joins  the  main  line.  It 
was  originally  contemplated  building  a  system  of  Siberian 
railways  which  should  link  together  the  great  rivers  of 
that  country  and  thus  accomplish  a  joint  service.  The 
first  of  these  links  was  the  railway  from  Ekaterinburg  to 
Tiumen  (still  a  trade  centre  of  some  importance)  on  the 
Tobol  River.  Reference  to  a  map  of  Siberia  will  enable 
the  reader  to  follow  the  details  of  this  plan.     The  great 


THE     CITIES     AND     TOWNS  103 

basins  of  the  Ob,  Yenisei,  Lena,  and  Amur  rivers  were  to 
be  connected  thus,  the  line  passing  some  distance  north 
of  the  present  trans-Siberian  Railway.  For  obvious 
reasons  —  mainly  meteorological  —  this  scheme  was 
promptly  abandoned.  The  route  finally  decided  upon 
opens  up,  almost  entirely,  new  country  and,  therefore, 
does  not  follow  the  old  post  road.  It  does  not  seem  to 
make  any  special  effort  to  connect  towns  that  were 
established  when  the  line  was  built,  and  as  Gerrare  says, 
"  there  are  villages  and  towns  on  the  route,  but  as  it  was 
not  for  them  the  line  was  constructed,  the  stations  are 
so  far  distant  that  it  seems  a  mockery  to  name  them 
after  the  settlements.  In  fact  the  stations,  like  the 
sidings,  are  made  at  regular  intervals,  and  the  propin- 
quity of  a  town  appears  to  be  accidental."  There  is 
somewhat  of  literary  license  about  this  reflection. 

Petropavlovsk  is  the  next  town  of  importance,  yet  the 
traveller  by  train  really  sees  nothing  of  the  place,  because 
the  station  is  not  placed  at  a  convenient  point,  but  several 
miles  from  the  centre  of  the  town  which  can  be  dimly 
seen  across  the  level  country.  There  is  not  much  lost. 
Omsk,  a  division  point  of  the  railway,  is  still  a  place  of 
much  importance  as  a  trading  centre  and  the  chief  ad- 
ministrative town  of  the  steppe  region.  There  is  an  old 
gateway  of  some  antiquarian  interest,  and  in  the  church 
hangs  a  banner  which  was  carried  by  the  famous  explorer 
Yermak.  Dostoievski,  the  author,  has  given  an  account, 
most  popular  with  Russian  readers,  of  the  old  prison. 
He  calls  it  "The  Dead  House,"  and  therein  he  served 
four  years  at  hard  labour.  One  of  his  fellow-exiles  was 
the  poet  Durov.  Remembering  what  has  been  said  of 
the  rough,  unfinished,  unkempt  appearance  of  all  Russian 
towns,  which  Omsk  shares  fully,  this  place  has  the  look 


104       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

of  an  active,  " hustling"  town  of  western  America.  The 
railway  bridge  across  the  Irtish  River  is  a  structure  which 
does  credit  to  the  builders.  In  the  vicinity  are  seen  many 
of  the  rough  windmills  that  the  settlers  use. 

Tomsk  is  an  amusing  example  of  what  has  been  said 
of  the  disregard  of  already  existing  towns  when  laying 
out  the  railway.  Although  it  is  now  the  capital  of  Siberia 
and  the  main  line  could  easily  have  been  deflected  so  as 
to  pass  through  it,  Tomsk  is  forty-eight  miles  from 
Taiga  Junction,  and  is  reached  from  there  by  a  branch 
line.  The  place  has  a  population  of  nearly  100,000  and 
is  a  typical  Siberian  town.  It  is  an  important  official 
place,  but  besides  being  that  it  has  considerable  trade 
and  there  is  reasonable  ground  for  the  demand  for 
further  facilities  for  exploitation.  Personally,  I  do 
not  share  the  pessimism  which  contends  that  there 
is  no  probability  of  continuing  the  Ekaterinburg- 
Tiumen  railway  line  on  through  Tobolsk  Province, 
by  way  of  Tobolsk  City  and  Kalpasheva  to  Tomsk. 
The  agricultural  and  cattle-raising  possibilities  of  the 
district  which  would  be  served  by  the  line  are  already 
quite  sufficient  to  ensure  a  satisfactory  return  on 
the  cost  of  construction  and  maintenance,  and  they 
can  be  greatly  expanded.  I  grant  that  it  is  south  of  the 
present  railway  that  the  industrial  and  agricultural 
prospects  are  more  encouraging  to  railway  development: 
the  farming  districts  are  surer,  and  the  rich  gold-fields 
will  certainly  be  worked  to  a  greater  output  than  has 
yet  been.  Krasnoyarsk  is  an  old  town,  for  Siberia, 
dating  from  early  in  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was 
a  "boom"  town,  some  years  ago  after  Captain  Wiggins 
made  his  way  by  the  North  Sea  Passage  to  and  up  the 
Yenisei  River,  crossed  by  the  railway  here.     For  a  while 


THE     CITIES     AND     TOWNS  I05 

it  was  thought  that  Krasnoyarsk  had  a  bright  future, 
but  that  is  now  one  of  the  "has  beens."  The  scenes 
along  the  river,  the  great  floats  with  their  enormous 
steering  oars,  the  bridge  of  boats,  and  the  evidences  of  a 
still  considerable  lumber  trade  are  interesting. 

Irkutsk  is  one  of  the  most  important  division  points  on 
the  whole  trans-Siberian  Railway.  The  station  is  large, 
handsome,  convenient,  well  lighted,  and  equipped  with 
an  excellent  restaurant.  As  all  passengers  must  change 
here,  whether  east  or  west  bound,  those  going  first  class 
in  the  luxurious  trains  de  luxe,  the  second  or  third  class 
who  put  up  with  the  modest  passenger  or  post  trains,  as 
well  as  immigrants,  herded  in  box-cars,  almost  like  cattle, 
these  attractive  features  of  the  station  are  decidedly 
popular.  Outside,  in  the  yards,  engines  of  every  descrip- 
tion are  to  be  seen  and  carriages,  goods  vans,  and  every 
kind  of  "car."  As  I  saw  the  big  engine,  double-com- 
pound, ten-wheels,  six  foot  drivers,  walking  off  with  a 
train  of  fifteen  long,  heavy,  compartment  carriages 
crowded  with  passengers,  I  smiled  to  myself  at  the  state- 
ments I  had  read  about  the  wretched  roadbed,  the  flimsy 
rails,  and  the  inadequate  rolling-stock! 

It  is  customary  to  speak  and  to  write  of  Irkutsk  as 
being  on  Lake  Baikal,  at  the  southern  end  of  the  lake; 
but  this  is  not  strictly  correct,  for  the  town  is  on  the  left 
(north)  bank  of  a  small  river,  the  Irkut,  just  where  it  is 
joined  by  the  Angara.  The  station  actually  on  the  lake 
shore  is  called  Baikal,  and  the  intervening  distance  is 
forty  miles,  yet  from  the  bluff  behind  the  station  at 
Irkutsk  and  from  the  top  of  any  lofty  building  in  the 
town,  across  the  river,  the  lake  can  be  seen. 

To  get  from  the  station  into  the  town  a  long  bridge 
has  to  be  crossed,  and  as  there  is  a  draw  near  one  end, 


106       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

it  is  well  for  the  traveller,  who  visits  the  town  during  the 
long  wait  of  all  trains,  to  give  himself  plenty  of  time  to 
get  back,  for  if  the  draw  is  open,  to  negotiate  the  river 
in  a  boat  is  a  matter  of  indefinite  time,  it  may  be,  an 
hour  or  two.  Irkutsk  is  well  said  to  be  the  largest  and 
most  characteristic  of  the  Siberian  towns  which  owe 
their  existence  to  the  convict  or  exile  system.  It  has 
many  large  shops,  well  stocked  with  European  merchan- 
dise of  all  kinds,  and  goods  are  sold  at  prices  which 
strike  the  passenger  as  being  most  reasonable  for  "the 
wilds  of  Siberia."  There  are  hospitals,  "homes,"  and 
many  other  philanthropic  institutions,  an  attractive 
and  interesting  museum,  a  good  public  library,  "scien- 
tific and  learned"  societies,  and  sundry  gathering-places 
which  come  as  near  being  "clubs"  as  the  government 
tolerates. 

The  streets,  however,  are  abominable,  being  absolutely 
unmade  in  any  way;  one  day,  a  quagmire,  while  the 
next,  maybe,  ankle-deep  in  dust.  Where  there  are 
sidewalks,  they  are  likely  to  be  treacherous  plank-traps 
to  catch  the  unwary,  and  each  property  owner  who  in- 
dulges in  this  luxury  pleases  himself  in  the  matter  of 
determining  level  and  grade  —  so  that  "up  hill  and  down 
dale"  correctly  describes  the  motion  of  the  pedestrian. 
Some  of  the  churches,  and  there  are  many,  of  course, 
are  richly  supplied  with  decorations  given  by  the  faithful. 
A  few  years  ago  Irkutsk  had  an  evil  reputation  because 
of  the  character  of  those  frequenters  who  had  come  back 
flush  from  the  gold-fields;  but  those  conditions  have 
been  changed  for  the  better  —  although  the  best  that 
can  be  said  for  the  place  would  not  attract  the  stranger 
to  make  a  lengthy  stay.  One  serious  deterrent  is  the 
hotel  problem.    There  is  no  hotel  that  is  really  good; 


THE     CITIES     AND    TOWNS  107 

all  are  expensive,  and  at  least  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
station,  with  those  impossible  " streets"  intervening. 

After  leaving  Irkutsk  there  are  but  few  places  which 
deserve  special  mention  until  the  end  of  the  railway  is 
reached  at  Vladivostok.  Verkhne-Udinsk  is  said  to  be 
a  possible  rival  of  Irkutsk,  because  it  is  on  the  Selenga 
River,  which  is  navigable  all  the  way  into  Mongolia; 
and  it  is  even  contemplated  building  a  railway  from  this 
station  via  Kiahkta  across  the  Gobi  desert  on  to  Peking; 
but  that,  I  fancy,  is  a  dream  of  future  possibilities. 

Chita  is  a  place  of  some  importance,  chiefly  noted 
for  the  number  of  religious  exiles,  especially  Dekabrists. 
One  of  the  principal  thoroughfares  is  called  Damskaya, 
" Ladies'  Street,"  to  do  honour  to  the  faithful  wives  who 
insisted  upon  following  their  husbands  into  exile.  Just 
east  of  Chita  the  old  Siberian  Railway  diverges  to  Stret- 
yinsk  at  the  head  of  Amur  navigation  on  the  Shilka 
River,  whence  the  journey  was  continued  via  Blagoves- 
chensk  to  Khabaroff,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Usuri  River, 
and  there  the  Usuri  Railway  was  taken  into  Vladivostok. 
The  Russian  frontier  town,  Mandjulie,  need  not  detain 
us.  From  a  point  east  of  this  station  a  military  railway 
was  built  southward  to  the  frontier  of  Inner  Mongolia, 
and  this  may  be  reconstructed  as  a  permanent  line  and 
projected  on  to  Kalgan  and  Peking. 

There  is  not  much  to  say  of  Harbin,  or  Kharbin  (more 
properly,  Kharbilin),  the  junction  with  the  line  south 
to  Chang-chun,  where  connection  is  made  with  the 
Japanese  system  to  Tairen  (Dalny)  and  Port  Arthur. 
The  most  unique  thing  at  this  place  is  a  large  Russian 
(Orthodox)  church  improvised  from  a  number  of  Chinese 
buildings.  Harbin  is  an  important  military  post. 
Nominally,  it  is  the  headquarters  only  for  the  guards 


108       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

whom  Russia  (and  Japan  in  the  southern  part  of  Man- 
churia) is  by  treaty  with  China  allowed  to  have  for  the 
protection  of  her  railways.  The  line  across  Manchuria, 
east  to  west,  is  920  miles  long;  that  from  Harbin  south 
to  Chang-chun  is  147  miles.  The  number  of  guards  is 
supposed  to  be  limited  to  fifteen  for  each  kilometre,  or 
1708  for  the  entire  system.  Yet  Russia  keeps  in  Man- 
churia four  brigades  of  fifty-five  companies  each  of 
infantry  and  cavalry,  and  a  company  of  artillery  — 
altogether,  about  27,000  troops. 

The  town  is  said  to  make  an  effort  to  be  very  "  giddy," 
with  an  open-air  theatre,  band  concerts,  and  various 
frivolities  in  what  was  once  the  private  garden  of  a 
Buddhist  monastery;  and  there  are,  besides,  regular 
theatres,  vaudeville,  and  all  kinds  of  kindred  entertain- 
ments. Four  years  ago,  Harbin  had  eight  flourmills 
with  a  daily  capacity  of  over  8000  barrels.  These  were 
built  in  1904  to  provide  bread  for  the  soldiers  during  the 
Russo-Japanese  War,  and  with  the  end  of  that  war  the 
extraordinary  demand  for  flour  ceased;  therefore,  the 
mills  are  now  an  unprofitable  investment.  It  is  said 
that  American  millers  are  negotiating  for  these  properties 
with  a  view  to  supplying  the  wants  of  the  Far  East. 
Three  miles  west  of  Old  Harbin  (the  place  just  described) 
is  Harbin  Quay,  on  the  Sungari  River;  and  another  place, 
Sungaria,  the  present  terminus  of  the  line  from  Chang- 
chun. This  last  is  likely  to  be  the  most  populous  and 
thriving  of  all  the  Harbins,  for  it  is  the  best  business 
centre  in  northern  Manchuria. 

Vladivostok  is  the  most  important  town  in  all  Siberia. 
The  harbour  was  first  entered  by  Europeans  in  1856, 
when  the  British  warship,  Winchester,  came  there,  looking 
for  the  Russian  Pacific  fleet.     "The  Golden  Horn"  of 


THE     CITIES    AND     TOWNS  IO9 

Peter  the  Great's  Bay  was  christened  "Port  May,"  yet 
it  was  not  occupied  by  Russians  until  i860.  From  the 
land  side  Vladivostok,  "The  Sovereign  of  the  East,"  was 
first  settled  by  some  traders  from  Nikolaievsk.  It  is  the 
residence  of  a  Governor- General,  an  Admiral  of  the 
Fleet,  a  full  General  of  the  Army;  and  ecclesiastically 
it  ranks  very  high  as  a  diocese. 

The  town  wanders  and  scrambles  most  irregularly 
along  the  slopes  and  over  the  tops  of  several  hills  that 
skirt  the  shore  of  what  is,  undoubtedly,  one  of  the  finest 
harbours  in  the  world;  and  the  place  is,  naturally,  most 
picturesque.  The  streets  are  badly  cared  for,  although 
there  are  a  few  patches  of  pavement;  but  here,  as  else- 
where, throughout  the  Tsar's  domains,  the  person  who 
ventures  into  a  carriage  is  promptly  made  to  realise  that 
he  has  taken  his  life  in  his  own  hands,  or,  rather, 
has  entrusted  it  to  those  of  the  droshky  driver.  The 
place  owes  its  size  and  importance  entirely  to  the  Russian 
Government's  determination  to  make  it  a  fortified  post  — 
impregnable,  they  believe  it  —  with  navy  yard,  docks, 
etc.,  arsenal,  coast  defences,  and  forts  and  barracks  in 
every  direction.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  small  business 
done,  and  there  are  many  large  and  well-stocked  shops; 
yet,  after  all,  there  is  an  appearance  of  artificiality  and 
lack  of  permanency.  The  actual  export  and  import 
trade,  measured  by  standards  applied  throughout  the 
world,  is  insignificant  and  cannot  well  be  otherwise, 
since  there  is  comparatively  little  hinterland  to  be 
supplied  or  to  furnish  exports;  and  the  dependent 
population  is  sparse  and  wretchedly  poor. 

One  sees  more  brick  and  stone  edifices  at  Vladivostok 
than  in  all  the  rest  of  Siberia  combined,  and  some  of  the 
buildings,  the  cathedral,  for  example,  make  no  mean 


IIO       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

pretensions  to  architectural  beauty.  The  visitor, 
whether  he  comes  from  the  west  or  the  south,  will  be 
agreeably  surprised  by  his  first  sight  of  "The  Sovereign 
of  the  East."  Yet  all  that  there  is  of  beauty,  strength, 
and  permanency  is  due,  not  to  Russian,  but  to  Chinese 
contractors  and  labourers.  This  is  true  of  even  some 
things  which  one  would  expect  the  army  or  navy  tech- 
nologist to  guard  most  jealously.  As  an  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  my  statement,  I  was  assured  that  in  the  shops 
of  the  navy  yard  and  fitting-out  station,  for  one  Russian 
employed,  there  are  ten  Chinese. 

Vladivostok  is  a  mongrel  town  in  many  respects.  It 
is  neither  truly  Russian  —  for  in  some  things  it  is  too 
substantial  —  nor  wholly  Chinese  —  for  the  Chinese  have 
adapted  themselves  to  circumstances  and  changed  their 
own  mode  of  building  and  living.  Japanese  influence 
may  be  ignored.  Truly,  as  Gerrare  says:  "It  is  a  much- 
governed  town.  In  addition  to  the  Military  Governor,  it 
has  a  Commandant  of  the  fortress,  a  Port  Admiral,  the 
Admiral  of  the  Fleet  in  the  Pacific,  a  Harbour-Master,  a 
Director  of  Customs,  and  an  Immigration  Agent,  Mayor, 
and  others,  each  with  a  separate  jurisdiction. " 

I  have  not,  in  this  chapter,  gone  off  the  beaten  track 
of  the  railway  along  which  nearly  all  visitors  will  travel. 
Besides  the  few  towns  I  have  mentioned,  there  are  many 
others  in  more  or  less  remote  regions,  some  of  which 
may  be  alluded  to  in  other  chapters.  The  Amur  valley 
towns  are  well  worth  visiting  by  all ;  and  for  those  whose 
personal  interests  lie  in  that  direction,  the  mining  towns 
and  industrial  centres  possess  attraction.  But  it  must 
be  said,  by  way  of  caution,  that  many  of  these  places 
cannot  be  visited  by  strangers  who  have  only  the  ordinary 
or  even  the  special  passport  of  their  own  government,  no 


THE     CITIES     AND     TOWNS  III 

matter  how  properly  it  may  be  visaed.  Special  permis- 
sion must  be  given  by  the  proper  Ministry  at  St.  Peters- 
burg, and  this  must  be  endorsed  by  the  Governor- General 
of  the  government  or  province,  and  again  by  the  local 
authorities. 


CHAPTER  IX 

BY  POST  AND  PASSENGER  TRAIN  ACROSS  ASIA 

AND  RUSSIA 

WHEN  we  decided  to  try  the  experiment  of  crossing 
Asia  at  about  its  widest  part  I  wrote  to  the 
Agent  of  the  Russian  Volunteer  Fleet  at  Tsuruga,  Japan, 
for  information,  and  to  ascertain  if  the  long  journey  by 
train  could  be  broken  day  by  day,  in  order  to  secure 
quiet  nights  at  hotels. 

I  must  explain  that  the  steamers  which  connect  the 
trans-Siberian  Railway,  at  Vladivostok,  with  Japan  at 
either  Tsuruga  or  Nagasaki,  and  with  China  at  Shanghai, 
are  owned  by  the  Russian  Volunteer  Fleet,  a  company 
that  is  nominally  a  private  corporation,  but,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  merely  another  of  the  many  branches  of  the 
Russian  Government's  extensive  plan  for  exploiting  its 
own  country  and  trying  to  bring  about  satisfactory 
communication  with  other  lands.  Although  there  is  a 
Japanese  line  of  steamers  between  Vladivostok  and 
Tsuruga,  and  between  Vladivostok  and  Nagasaki,  while, 
of  course,  the  connections  with  Tairen  (Dalny,  near 
Port  Arthur)  are  all  Japanese,  it  is  the  agent  at  Tsuruga 
of  the  Russian  line  who  is  empowered  to  book  passage, 
visa  passports,  etc.  He  it  was  who  recommended  us  to 
take  the  post  train,  and  he  assured  us  we  should  be  quite 
as  comfortable  as  in  the  express  train;  a  statement 
which,  all  things  considered,  was  most  satisfactorily 
borne  out. 


TRAIN     ACROSS     ASIA     AND     RUSSIA       113 

The  trip  of  which  I  am  about  to  tell  was  made  in  the 
month  of  July,  19 10,  five  years  after  the  end  of  the 
Russo-Japanese  War.  At  that  time  the  control  of  the 
southern  two  thirds  (about)  of  the  railway  from  Tairen 
to  Harbin  had  passed  into  Japanese  hands.  We  might, 
had  we  chosen  to  do  so,  have  gone  from  Nagasaki  to 
Port  Arthur,  then  by  Japanese  train  to  Chang-chun, 
where  we  should  have  been  compelled  to  change  into  a 
Russian  train,  and  at  which  point  connection  always 
meant  a  long  delay.  Often  there  was  no  connection  at 
all,  thus  necessitating  a  stay  of  nearly  a  day  at  a  most 
expensive  and  far  from  satisfactory  hotel.  From  Chang- 
chun to  Harbin  we  should  have  travelled  by  Russian 
train,  said  to  be  the  poorest  in  equipment  and  service  of 
the  entire  Siberian  system.  At  Harbin,  we  should  have 
made  no  connection  at  all  with  the  train  we  did  take  from 
Vladivostok,  and  again  should  have  been  compelled  to 
put  up  with  even  poorer  hotel  accommodations  than  at 
Chang-chun. 

Or  we  could  have  gone  from  Nagasaki  to  Fusan,  Korea, 
through  Soul,  of  course  stopping  over  a  day  or  so  to  see 
that  capital,  and  then  up  through  Korea  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Yalu  River  and  by  way  of  Antung  in  a  Japanese 
train  to  Mukden,  where  we  should  have  made  connection 
with  the  main  line,  Tairen  to  Chang-chun  and  Harbin. 
I  use  the  word  "connection"  with  due  Asiatic  and 
Russian  limitation,  and  not  in  the  sense  it  conveys  to 
our  minds  when  we  speak  of  our  own  trunk  lines  of  rail- 
way. Once  in  Russia,  and  then  all  the  way  to  the  Far 
East  it  is:  "If  the  station  master  saw  fit  to  send  off  the 
train  an  hour  ahead  of  time,  why  should  you  worry? 
There's  another  train  to-morrow!"  or,  "You  say  you 
cannot  get  places  for  yourself  and  family?    Well,  then, 


114       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

take  the  next  train,  to-morrow.  Meanwhile,  go  to  a 
hotel  and  make  yourselves  comfortable!" 

I  mention  these  alternate  routes  in  order  that  my 
readers  may  know  what  are  the  possibilities  which  this 
trans-Siberian  Railway  offers.  To  a  man  travelling 
alone,  or  men  and  women  travelling  in  company  — 
most  preferably  multiples  of  four  —  I  recommend  trying 
the  experiment  of  going  south  from  Harbin,  to  stop  over 
at  Chang-chun,  in  order  to  go  to  Kirin,  the  ancient 
capital  of  the  Manchus  —  it  is  well  worth  a  visit  —  and 
again  at  Mukden,  so  as  to  see  something  of  what  that 
famous  city  and  its  neighbourhood  have  still  to  show  of 
the  old  Manchu  life.  Thence,  by  the  Mukden-Antung- 
Wiju-Pienyang  line,  to  Soul.  This  line  traverses  a  sec- 
tion of  Manchuria  made  famous  during  the  China- 
Japan  War  of  1894-5,  and  in  Korea  it  passes  through 
magnificent  scenery.  To  be  sure,  Soiil  is  no  longer  a 
capital  city,  and  under  Japanese  administration  is  fast 
losing  its  Korean  characteristics,  without  gaining  any- 
thing to  compensate  the  loss.  Still,  there  is  something 
left  that  will  interest  the  tourist,  and  from  the  city  it  is 
possible  to  make  the  few  excursions  that  offer  reward 
commensurate  with  the  fair  amount  of  discomfort 
entailed. 

From  Soiil  to  Fusan  is  another  section  of  interesting 
railway.  The  crossing  of  the  Japan  Sea  to  Shimonoseki 
is  now  a  matter  of  but  a  few  hours,  and  at  Shimonoseki 
the  traveller  gets  a  through  sleeping-car  to  Tokyo  without 
change,  and  European  dining-cars  at  proper  intervals, 
when  one  does  not  go  all  the  way.  I  am  writing  for  the 
passenger  whose  Far  Eastern  objective  point  is  the 
Japanese  capital,  and  if  he  has  had  reasonable  luck  he 
will  arrive  in  Tokyo  thirteen  days  after  leaving  London, 


TRAIN     ACROSS     ASIA     AND     RUSSIA      115 

and  he  will  find  the  journey  from  New  York  has  cost  him 
less  than  to  cross  our  continent  and  then  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  The  tourist,  just  to  see  what  is  to  be  seen,  had 
better  make  this  journey  to  Japan,  and  then  go  back  to 
China;  for  if  he  goes  from  Harbin  to  Tairen  and  Port 
Arthur,  and  then  to  any  Chinese  port,  he  misses  all  the 
Korean  section,  and  that  would  be  a  pity.  After  having 
seen  as  much  of  Russian  cities  and  towns,  and  of  Siberia 
as  he  will  have  done,  there  is  no  great  reason  to  regret 
missing  Vladivostok. 

The  first  step  in  preparation  for  the  journey  was  to 
get,  through  the  nearest  American  consul,  a  passport 
from  the  Department  of  State,  Washington.  This 
document  is  imperatively  necessary  now  to  gain  admis- 
sion into  any  part  of  the  Tsar's  domains,  and  even  it 
will  not  be  sufficient  to  open  the  gates  to  certain  parts  of 
what  are  claimed  to  be  "  Russia."  I  speak  from  precise 
knowledge  when  I  say  that  our  ordinary  passport,  the 
one  which  merely  asks  permission  to  let  the  bearer  travel 
freely  and  to  give  him  "  lawful  aid  and  protection, " 
will  not  carry  an  American,  even  if  he  is  not  a  Jew,  into 
many  parts  of  Central  Asia  where  the  Russian  authority 
is  not  yet  absolutely  established  and  where,  as  in  North- 
ern Manchuria,  the  Muscovites  are  distinctly  trespassers. 
I  doubt  very  much  if  even  our  extraordinary  passport, 
the  one  that  invokes  permission  "to  pass  freely  without 
let  or  molestation,  and  to  extend  such  friendly  aid  and 
protection  as  would  be  extended  to  like  citizens  of  foreign 
governments  resorting  to  the  United  States,"  and  which 
is  rarely  issued  to  the  ordinary  traveller,  being  reserved 
for  Government  agents  or  specially  influential  citizens, 
would  open  some  of  the  gates  in  the  Caucasus,  or  secure 
freedom  to  travel  in  Transcaspia,  and  that  region. 


Il6       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Strange  as  it  must  seem,  it  was  and  is  quite  as  necessary 
for  an  alien  to  have  a  passport  properly  endorsed  when 
he  wishes  to  leave  Russia  as  it  always  has  been  to  get 
into  that  country.  I  know  that  at  the  time  of  my  first 
visit  to  Vladivostok,  not  a  word  was  said  about  passports 
when  we  arrived;  but  the  steamship  officials  would  not 
let  me  book  the  return  passage  until  the  proper  Russian 
official  had  stamped  our  passport  with  the  statement 
that  there  was  no  objection  to  the  American  citizen 
with  his  wife  and  child  leaving  Russian  territory.  To 
be  sure,  Vladivostok  then  (1899)  was  a  "free  port"; 
it  was  made  a  "closed  port"  the  following  year,  and 
conditions  are  now  different. 

While  on  this  subject  of  passports,  it  may  be  of  interest 
to  say  that  our  diplomatic  representatives  abroad, 
ambassadors  and  ministers  plenipotentiary,  are  author- 
ised to  issue  passports,  and  usually  these  are  recognised 
fully  in  the  few  countries  wherein  such  relics  of  antiquity 
are  still  demanded;  but  it  is  always  better  to  have  a 
passport  signed  by  the  Secretary  of  State  and  bearing 
the  great  seal  of  the  United  States.  It  has  much  more 
potent  effect  than  does  an  embassy  or  legation  passport : 
and  unless  there  is  absolutely  no  probability  that  the 
different  members  of  the  family  will  be  separated,  it  is 
much  wiser  for  each  adult  to  have  his  or  her  own  in- 
dividual passport.  In  the  case  of  a  family  comprising 
let  us  say,  father,  mother,  and  two  minor  children;  if 
the  visit  to  Russia  is  purely  for  sight-seeing,  it  is  not 
likely  that  the  father  will  go  away  from  his  family,  and 
in  such  a  case,  one  passport  is  sufficient  for  all,  great  care 
being  taken  to  give  full  information  about  age,  sex,  etc., 
of  the  children.  But  if  the  visit  contemplates  business 
investigation,  and  there  is  even  a  remote  possibility  of 


TRAIN     ACROSS     ASIA     AND     RUSSIA      117 

the  father  going  away  from  the  others,  even  for  a  day 
or  two  only,  by  all  means  let  him  have  his  own  individual 
passport,  and  let  the  mother  have  one  for  herself  and  the 
children.  I  have  heard  of  a  woman  being  placed  in  a 
most  embarrassing  predicament  because  her  husband 
had  gone  away  from  her  into  the  country,  taking  with 
him  the  family  passport.  During  his  temporary  absence 
the  wife  had  been  called  upon  to  show  her  passport,  and 
this  may  happen  at  any  moment  in  Russia.  Having 
none,  of  course,  there  would  have  been  dreadful  complica- 
tions, but  for  the  friendly  offices  of  diplomatic  or  consular 
officials. 

Another  and  equally  important  matter  is  the  visa  — 
the  certification  by  a  Russian  ambassador,  minister 
(and  let  not  any  of  my  readers  confuse  this  "  minister " 
with  a  "  clergyman, "  as  I  have  known  some  to  do!),  or 
consul  at,  usually,  the  nearest  point  to  where  the  frontier 
is  to  be  crossed.  This  is  imperatively  necessary,  as  the 
formality  attests  the  validity  of  the  document  and  grants 
permission  for  the  bearer  to  enter  Russian  territory. 
Upon  settling  down  at  hotel  or  pension,  the  proprietor 
will  see  to  it  that  all  formalities  are  complied  with,  and 
the  necessary  permission  to  go  from  one  place  to  another 
or  to  leave  Russia  when  the  time  comes  to  depart,  is 
procured:  but  while  the  passport  is  in  the  possession 
of  the  " bearer"  (when  he  is  remaining  over  night,  or 
longer,  in  one  place,  it  is  held  by  the  police),  let  the 
document  always  be  ready  for  inspection  by  any  uni- 
formed official  who  sees  fit  to  demand  it. 

In  my  correspondence  with  the  agent  at  Tsuruga, 
I  had  said  that  we  were  in  no  haste,  but  were  desirous  of 
seeing  as  much  of  the  country  and  the  peoples  as  possible. 
This  inquiry  brought  the  suggestion  that  we  travel  by 


Il8       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

the  post  train;  one  leaves  each  day.  To  do  this  we 
should  be  compelled  to  take  with  us  blankets  or  rugs, 
pillows,  sheets,  etc.,  and  to  provide  ourselves  with  a 
sizable  lunch-basket  containing  plates,  knives,  and 
forks,  spoons,  teapot,  cups,  and  saucers,  bottles  for  milk 
and  drinking  water,  and  all  sorts  of  things  required  for 
" light  housekeeping"  during  the  journey  of  fifteen  or 
sixteen  days.  The  agent  very  kindly  told  me  that  we 
could  take  into  our  compartment  a  good  deal  of  luggage, 
for  the  overhead  racks  were  wide  and  strong;  and  we 
found  this  to  be  the  case,  some  of  our  fellow-travellers 
having  good-sized  steamer  trunks,  large  baskets,  huge 
portmanteaus,  and  enormous  rolls  of  bedding. 

The  expense  by  taking  this  train  and  travelling  second- 
class  was  only  about  one  third  of  what  it  would  have 
been  in  the  express  train,  again  second-class;  while  the 
opportunities  afforded  for  association  and  investigation 
were  decidedly  more  than  three  times  as  great.  I  must 
say  that  the  "  second-class "  does  not,  by  any  means, 
imply  inferior  accommodation  and  objectionable  com- 
panions. Our  fellow-travellers  were  always  clean,  neat, 
and  friendly,  and  the  railway  carriages  were  quite  as 
well  cared  for  by  porters  as  are  the  second-class  or  first- 
class  trains.  I  cannot  imagine  myself  as  travelling  by 
any  of  the  express  trains,  after  our  experience  in  the  post 
and  passenger  trains  of  the  trans-Siberian  Railway. 

I  grant  that  time  is  saved  by  taking  the  express,  if 
two  or  three  days  count  for  anything  in  such  a  journey; 
also  that  personal  convenience  is  subserved  because  of 
the  relief  from  the  necessity  for  providing  oneself  with 
bedding,  lunch-basket,  etc.,  and  that  the  language 
difficulty  is  reduced  to  an  almost  vanishing  minimum, 
because  among  the  attendants  on  those  express  trains 


TRAIN     ACROSS     ASIA     AND     RUSSIA      119 

or  the  waiters  in  the  dining-cars,  there  is  always  someone 
who  can  speak  at  least  a  little  of  every  known  tongue  of 
Europe,  and  perhaps  more  besides!  Yet  even  so,  I 
strongly  advise  even  the  express  train  traveller  to  provide 
himself  with  a  Russian-English  phrase-book,  and  with 
his  own  tea-drinking  outfit,  that  he  may  be  able  to  take 
advantage  of  the  opportunities  offered  " between  meals" 
to  indulge  himself  with  a  tumbler  of  the  tea  that  is  as 
good  as  can  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world.  The  usual 
cup  is  replaced  by  a  glass  and  there  should  be  a  small 
saucer  to  carry  slices  of  lemon,  procurable  at  the  " buffet" 
(pronounced  as  spelled)  stations,  and  adding  so  much  to 
the  sweetened,  rather  weak,  milkless  tea  which  the 
Russians  enjoy. 

Our  preparations  being  all  made,  the  initial  stage  of 
our  journey  was  by  Japanese  train  from  Kyoto  to 
Tsuruga.  Here,  altogether  for  the  sake  of  appearance, 
we  were  " first-class";  because  we  felt  that  from  the 
windows  of  a  "  second-class "  carriage  we  could  hardly 
wave  goodbye  to  the  Japanese  officials,  educationalists, 
Buddhist  prelates,  and  a  host  of  American  and  European 
friends  who  kindly  and  graciously  came  to  see  us  start. 
At  Tsuruga,  a  good  deal  of  time  was  consumed  in  getting 
the  visa  put  on  our  passport,  and  securing  steamship 
tickets  to  Vladivostok,  so  that  it  was  nearly  six  o'clock 
in  the  evening  when  the  agent  invited  us  to  get  aboard 
his  launch  to  go  off  to  the  steamer  lying  at  a  buoy  half 
a  mile  from  the  pier.  Once  on  board,  we  became  second- 
class  passengers,  for  at  that  time  there  was  no  first-class 
carriage  in  the  post  train,  and  if  there  had  been,  we  should 
not  have  taken  it.  As  the  steamer  was  to  connect  with 
the  semi- weekly  express  train,  we  had  several  passengers 
for  it,  but  since  these  express  trains  have  first-  and  second- 


120       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

class  carriages  only  and  even  those  second-class  passen- 
gers are  allowed  to  travel  first-class  by  the  steamers, 
none  of  them  were  in  our  end  of  the  ship.  Our  fellow- 
passengers  were  either  local,  or,  like  ourselves,  going  by 
the  post  train. 

Our  cabins  were  thoroughly  comfortable  in  their 
appointment,  but  at  that  season  of  the  year  they  were 
very  warm  until  we  were  well  away  from  the  coast  of 
Japan,  and  being  right  in  the  stern,  of  course  we  felt  the 
motion  very  much.  The  food  was  excellent  and  there 
was  plenty  of  it,  although  the  meals  were  not  always 
served  at  hours  which  conformed  strictly  to  our  habit. 
The  language  problem  asserted  itself  at  once,  for  the 
second-cabin  steward  knew  nothing  but  Russian,  and  as 
some  of  our  fellow-travellers,  Russians  who  spoke  either 
English  or  French,  told  me,  even  his  Russian  was  of  a 
very  poor  quality  and  he  could  not  read,  so  that  my 
phrase-book  was  of  little  use.  We  conversed  by  signs  and 
there  was  not  much  said;  still  we  managed  to  get  along 
very  well. 

The  voyage  began  promptly  at  6.30  p.m.,  and  early 
the  second  morning  we  were  steaming  slowly  through 
the  inevitable  summer  fog  off  the  entrance  to  Vladivostok 
harbour,  but  we  were  not  detained  long.  There  was  a 
farcical  quarantine  inspection  just  after  getting  into 
the  inner  harbour;  then  our  passport  was  returned,  our 
luggage  was  examined,  for  as  I  have  said,  Vladivostok 
had  ceased  to  be  a  free  port  of  entry.  This  examination, 
too,  was  somewhat  of  a  farce.  The  steamship  pier  is 
rather  a  long  distance  from  the  railway  station,  and  both 
are  quite  at  the  wrong  end  of  town  for  shopping  or  sight- 
seeing. I  was  not  the  least  surprised  when  the  uni- 
formed and  licensed  porters  demanded  nearly  treble  the 


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TRAIN     ACROSS     ASIA     AND     RUSSIA      121 

proper  fee  for  carrying  our  luggage  to  the  station,  and 
it  was  quite  easy  to  bring  them  to  terms. 

We  had  all  day  to  wait,  for  the  post  train  was  not  to 
start  until  evening,  and  we  made  good  use  of  our  time. 
Listening  to  the  blandishments  of  the  agent  of  the 
International  Sleeping-Car  Company  and  foolishly  dis- 
regarding the  advice  of  an  English  official  of  the  Russian 
Volunteer  Fleet,  we  took  our  railway  tickets  from  the 
former,  who  was  not  a  Russian,  and  were  promptly 
swindled  out  of  five  roubles,  commission.  Now,  this 
agent  had  assured  me,  both  while  we  were  still  on  the 
steamer  and  later,  when  we  were  at  the  railway  station, 
that  it  would  not  cost  us  one  kopek  more  to  buy  those 
tickets  from  him  than  at  the  station.  I  demurred  at 
this  commission ;  but  with  a  shrug  that  sent  his  shoulders 
nearly  to  the  top  of  his  head,  the  agent  asserted,  "But 
I  must  live!"  I  did  not  dispute  that  point;  I  knew  the 
five  tickets  had  been  dated,  punched,  and  defaced,  so 
that  he  would  have  a  lot  of  trouble  if  I  rejected  them. 
I  let  him  keep  the  five  roubles  (about  $2.60),  but  I  told 
him  it  would  be  a  dearly  earned  commission;  and  I  am 
happy  to  say  I  have  been  able  to  keep  my  promise.  I 
try  (and  I  have  been  successful)  to  keep  my  friends  and 
acquaintances  out  of  the  clutches  of  the  International 
Sleeping-Car  Company. 

Our  consul  very  kindly  secured  for  us  a  courier  who, 
although  an  American  citizen,  had  been  born  at  Vladi- 
vostok and  had  not  yet  seen  his  own  country.  He 
spoke  Russian,  yet  none  too  well,  I  discovered,  but  when 
we  were  at  the  restaurant  for  luncheon,  it  was  I  who 
acted  as  guide  and  interpreter  for  him  when  French  or 
German  was  the  medium  of  communication.  But  of 
Vladivostok  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak.     That  city, 


122       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

with    other    Siberian    towns,  has    been  mentioned    in 
another  chapter. 

Boarding  a  train  of  the  Siberian  Railway  is  not  alto- 
gether such  a  simple  matter  as  is  the  same  sort  of  thing 
in  our  own  country.  In  the  first  place,  that  inevitable 
passport  must  be  shown  in  order  to  get  tickets  and  again 
before  the  train  starts.  These  formalities  are  gone 
through  with  in  the  case  of  Russian  subjects  as  well  as 
in  that  of  foreigners.  No  one  is  allowed  to  travel  freely 
without  official  permission.  Then  the  getting  of  seats 
is  a  task  of  no  mean  proportions.  Fortunately,  we  were 
well  cared  for  in  this  respect,  having  two  acquaintances 
who  knew  all  the  ropes,  one  of  whom  was  indirectly 
connected  with  the  railway  service  and  could  act  with 
some  official  authority.  These  two  friends  engaged  a 
couple  of  porters  and  gave  them  five  pieces  of  hand- 
luggage.  The  porters  stationed  themselves  at  the  door 
of  the  carriage  as  soon  as  the  train  was  brought  to  the 
platform,  and  held  their  places  despite  all  efforts  by  other 
intending  passengers  to  displace  them.  The  moment 
the  door  was  opened  they  took  possession  of  an  entire 
compartment  —  that  at  the  rear  end  of  the  carriage  — 
and  refused  to  let  anyone  sit  there  until  we  were  in  with 
all  our  belongings.  Having  four  full  tickets  and  one 
half-ticket,  we  were  entitled  to  five  places,  and  inasmuch 
as  the  cars  for  these  trains  that  go  a  long  distance  are 
divided  into  compartments,  in  each  of  which  no  more 
than  four  passengers  are  permitted  to  sit  (unless,  as  in 
our  case,  one  small  child  is  of  the  party),  we  filled  ours, 
and  when  once  in  possession  could  bid  defiance  to  anyone 
who  attempted  to  intrude  or  dispossess  us:  a  right 
which  we  were  forced  to  assert  very  strenuously  at  once, 
because  a  crowd  of  people  were  going  to  a  seaside  resort 


TRAIN    ACROSS     ASIA    AND     RUSSIA       123 

about  two  hours  from  Vladivostok.     After  that  we  had 
no  trouble. 

As  far  as  the  Russian  town  of  Mandjulie,  just  after 
leaving  Chinese  territory  —  Northern  Manchuria  proper 
—  the  carriage  had  open  compartments  (quite  similar 
to  a  section  in  a  Pullman  sleeping-car)  on  one  side  of  the 
aisle,  save  one  shut-off  stateroom  just  in  the  middle  on 
the  compartment  side.  In  this  particular  carriage  there 
were  narrow  seats  on  the  other  side  of  the  gangway, 
making  what  one  might  call  a  half -section.  Our  right 
to  occupy  that  half-section  was  recognised  by  everybody. 
From  Mandjulie  to  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg,  and 
from  the  capital  to  the  German  frontier,  we  had  closed 
compartments  in  which  we  could  have  privacy  and 
fasten  the  door  with  a  chain  on  the  inside.  The  seats 
were  athwart,  facing  each  other,  and  each  made  a  bed; 
the  backs  lift  up  and  are  securely  held  in  place  by  strong 
catches  which  come  out  from  the  framework  of  the  car, 
so  that  they  cannot  fall.  Thus,  each  compartment 
supplies  four  wide,  long,  comfortable  berths.  A  hard 
pillow  is  furnished  for  each  berth,  but  for  obvious  reasons, 
it  is  not  well  to  form  too  intimate  an  acquaintance  with 
these  luxuries.  At  each  end  of  the  carriage  is  a  lavatory, 
plentifully  supplied  with  cold  water,  and  —  speaking 
from  our  experience  —  kept  neat  and  clean.  Beyond 
are  the  lobbies,  each  having  a  huge  stove,  and  then  the 
platform.  The  carriages,  as  will  be  understood,  are 
entered  at  the  ends  only,  precisely  like  our  American 
cars.  We  made  up  our  own  beds  and  generally  took 
care  of  ourselves.  Our  fellow-passengers  made  some 
use  of  the  porter,  but  we  were  debarred  from  doing  this 
by  our  lack  of  Russian;  he  was  always  ready  and  did 
sweep  the  compartment  frequently. 


124       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

The  first  morning  brought  a  surprise  that  continued 
practically  all  the  way  to  Europe.  Instead  of  the  dreary 
Siberia  that  we  had  expected,  we  found  ourselves  amongst 
tree-covered  hills  or  jogging  along  over  rolling,  grassy 
plains  which  held  infinite  possibilities  for  the  stockman. 
We  were  then  in  Manchuria  and  the  Russian  railway 
guards  and  Chinese  soldiers  —  slouchy,  unkempt  fellows, 
these  latter  —  were  conspicuous.  The  construction  of 
the  railway  told  plainly  the  story  of  the  method  which 
had  been  followed;  haste  and  false  economy  having 
manifestly  been  given  precedence  over  substantiability 
and  shortness.  Instead  of  cuts,  fills,  and  tunnels,  the 
line  wound  around  even  slight  elevations  and  zigzagged 
across  the  country  in  such  a  way  as  to  arouse  in  my 
mind  a  strong  suspicion  that  the  contractors  had  taken 
a  lesson  from  their  congeners  who  had  built  our  first 
trans-continental  railway,  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific, 
when  every  extra  mile  brought  a  material  increase  to  the 
land  grant.  Only  in  Siberia  there  was  no  land  grant, 
the  railway  being  a  State  affair;  but  the  contractors 
were  paid  by  the  verst  and  from  the  imperial  treasury; 
it  was,  therefore,  to  their  unlawful  interest  to  make  the 
line  just  as  long  as  possible.  This  objectionable  feature 
of  unnecessary  length  is  being  greatly  eliminated  in  the 
new,  double-track  line  that  is  replacing  the  original 
single-track  one.  In  this  new  one  many  curves  are 
straightened;  there  are  cuttings  and  embankments  to 
aid  in  accomplishing  this,  and  generally  there  is  an 
appearance  of  satisfactory  railway  construction.  We 
saw  a  great  deal  of  this  new  work,  most  of  it  between 
Lake  Baikal  and  the  European  frontier;  and  in  a  few 
places  we  travelled  over  short  sections  of  it. 

The  matter  of  catering  for  ourselves  had  been  the  cause 


TRAIN    ACROSS    ASIA    AND     RUSSIA       125 

of  considerable  anxiety  before  actually  starting.  But 
all  concern  speedily  disappeared,  for  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  food  offered  for  sale  at  nearly  all  the  stations  — 
and  we  stopped  every  hour  or  so  —  were  all  that  could 
be  asked.  The  variety  would  satisfy  the  most  epicurean, 
and  the  cost  was  absurdly  reasonable.  Cooked  meats, 
poultry,  and  game;  smoked  meats,  ham,  sausage,  etc.; 
delicious  bread  and  excellent  butter,  creamy  milk,  fresh 
eggs,  raw  or  boiled  —  there  was  no  stint.  For  the  first 
day,  or  until  reaching  Harbin,  where  he  left  us,  I  was 
well  coached  by  a  young  Russian  who  spoke  French  well, 
and  I  learnt  the  proper  prices  for  all  sorts  of  eatables. 
At  the  buffet  stations  —  and  we  always  made  long  stops 
at  one  of  these  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at 
about  one  or  two  in  the  afternoon,  and  again  in  the 
evening  —  I  had  no  difficulty,  for  the  one  word  pachom 
("how  much?")  and  a  pointed  finger  sufficed  to  procure 
the  desired  information.  But  this  brings  back  to  my 
memory  an  amusing  episode  that  shows,  as  well  as  any- 
thing can,  what  a  curious  conglomerate  the  modern 
Russian  language  is.  After  a  few  minutes'  grind  at  my 
phrase-book,  I  put  together  the  following  sentence: 
"Tree  portions  rosbif  ee  kartofel  ee  macaroni,  pachom?" 
I  first  submitted  this  to  a  friendly  fellow-traveller  and 
he  smilingly  approved.  Then  I  tried  it  at  a  buffet 
station  and  was  entirely  successful.  The  actual  result, 
I  may  remark  parenthetically,  produced  enough  of  the 
three  aliments  to  satisfy  five  hungry  people!  Literally 
translated,  the  sentence  reads:  " Three  portions  roast- 
beef  and  potatoes  and  macaroni,  how  much?"  It  will 
be  noted  that  there  is  not  a  single  word  in  the  sentence 
that  does  not  or  might  not  be  credited  to  one  of  the  other 
languages  of  Europe;    for  even  the  seemingly  Russian 


126       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

word  pachom  is  closely  related  to  a  modern  Greek  word 
having  the  same  meaning.  This  conglomerate  aspect 
of  the  Russian  language  struck  me  forcibly  at  all  times. 
So  many  things  that  have  been  introduced  in  recent 
times  retain  their  foreign  names,  just  a  little  Russianised 
to  make  them  easily  pronounced:  graneet,  shahkahlaht, 
bank,  kapeetahn,  beelet,  bagaKsh,  kahndooktara,  platzkart, 
and  hundreds  of  others  need  no  translation. 

The  express  trains  make  but  one  change  in  either 
direction  between  Moscow  and  Vladivostok,  at  Irkutsk 
near  the  shore  of  Lake  Baikal,  and  through  passengers 
are  not  called  upon  to  submit  their  luggage  to  customs 
examination.  This  single  change  is  easily  made  and 
involves  nothing  more  than  stepping  from  one  train  to 
another  on  a  parallel  track.  Passengers  by  the  post 
train  change,  when  going  west  from  Vladivostok,  at 
Mandjulie,  Irkutsk,  and  Cheliabinsk,  and  they  cannot 
reserve  places.  Therefore,  there  is  something  of  a 
scramble,  but  the  porters  will  usually  be  able  to  pre-empt 
the  needed  seats,  and  it  is  best  to  trust  these  fellows, 
who  are  thoroughly  reliable.  I  tried  another  experiment 
which  failed  disastrously  and  brought  to  us  the  only 
successful  piece  of  "bunco"  work  that  was  ever  practised 
upon  me  in  Russia.  Our  train  had  been  held  for  nearly 
a  day  at  a  small  station  about  eight  hours  east  of  Irkutsk, 
because  of  a  wash-out.  We  therefore  arrived  at  Irkutsk 
only  an  hour  or  so  ahead  of  the  following  post  train,  and 
inasmuch  as  it  would  never  occur  to  a  Russian  railway 
official  to  double-up  the  connecting  train,  we  knew  we 
were  sure  to  be  dreadfully  crowded.  A  Russian  army 
officer  who  spoke  German  well,  a  little  French,  and  a 
few  words  of  English,  asked  me  to  give  him  our  tickets, 
and  he  promised  to  secure  for  us  a  compartment.    I  did 


TRAIN    ACROSS    ASIA    AND    RUSSIA      127 

it,  and  we  were  beautifully  "left."  Our  five  tickets 
enabled  him  to  secure  a  compartment  for  himself  and  a 
Russian  gentleman  and  his  wife.  Our  porter  was  the 
first  to  enter  the  carriage,  but  not  having  our  tickets  he 
could  not  hold  the  fort,  and  we  saw  the  train  go  off  with- 
out us.  It  was  a  good  lesson,  and  I  give  it  for  the  benefit 
of  others.  Trust  your  porter;  he  will  take  good  care  of 
you,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  pride  with  these  strong,  good- 
natured  fellows  to  secure  the  best  for  their  momentary 
master. 

After  all,  this  seeming  disaster  turned  out  to  be  rather 
a  good  thing.  We  were  enabled  to  see  the  town  of 
Irkutsk.  We  were  made  very  comfortable  in  the  large 
and  clean  waiting-room  at  the  station,  because  the 
hotels  were  too  far  away  to  risk  going  to  one  of  them, 
and  early  the  next  morning  we  reserved  our  places  in 
the  passenger  train  to  Cheliabinsk  and  there  again  to 
Moscow;  and  before  reaching  the  European  border  we 
overtook  and  passed  the  train  in  which  was  our  "bunco" 
friend,  reaching  Moscow  a  day  and  a  half  ahead  of  him. 
At  Cheliabinsk  something  occurred  of  a  nature  the  very 
opposite  of  what  the  army  officer  had  done.  Among  our 
fellow-passengers  from  Irkutsk  was  the  president  (judge) 
of  the  highest  court  of  that  jurisdiction.  He  would  not 
speak  French,  although  he  understood  that  language 
perfectly,  and  he  had  a  way  of  expressing  himself  in 
Russian  that  enabled  me  to  comprehend  clearly  what  he 
was  saying.  I  took  my  place  in  the  whip  at  the  booking- 
office  just  behind  the  judge  and  when  he  had  secured 
his  seat-checks,  he  stepped  aside  manifestly  to  watch 
over  me.  I  asked  for  a  full  compartment  and  some  of 
those  in  the  line  demurred,  but  the  judge  rebuked  them 
for  such  a  display  of  discourtesy  to  a  stranger.     The 


128      RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

ticket-seller  declined  to  change  my  hundred  rouble 
banknote,  and  I  had  not  sufficient  small  money  to  pay 
the  fees,  amounting  to  six  roubles,  for  four  platzkarten 
from  Cheliabinsk  to  Moscow.  Seeing  my  predicament, 
the  judge  instantly  put  a  twenty  rouble  note  into  my  hand 
and  walked  away.  After  the  excitement  was  over,  the 
booking-clerk  changed  my  hundred  rouble  note  and  I 
returned  the  loan.  That  is  a  sample  of  the  kindness 
which  we  generally  received  from  the  Russians. 

All  through  Siberia  the  surprises  came  thick  and  fast  — 
great  fields  of  grain,  thrifty  orchards  and  fruit  farms, 
stock  ranches  where  the  cattle  were  browsing  on  grasses 
nearly  up  to  their  bellies.  Around  the  little  stations, 
and  we  stopped  at  many  such,  something  the  expresses 
do  not  do,  were  clustered  neat,  comfortable  houses,  not 
all  of  them  small,  and  always  there  was  the  church. 
Of  the  people  whom  we  saw  at  these  stations,  of  the 
convicts,  and  several  other  topics,  I  wish  to  speak  in 
other  places;  here  I  confine  myself  to  the  railway.  The 
great  trans-Siberian  Railway  is  rather  an  undertaking 
than  a  growing  together  of  links.  In  European  Russia, 
the  necessity  for  affording  facilities  to  the  mining  enter- 
prises in  the  North  Ural  district,  induced  the  Govern- 
ment to  build  the  Perm  -Tiumen  line,  and  it  was  then 
contemplated  as  a  link  in  the  possible  railway  to  the 
Amur.  This  line  was  finished  in  1884.  In  1891  the 
railway  was  pushed  eastward  to  Cheliabinsk,  and  in  that 
year,  it  may  be  said,  the  project  of  crossing  Asia  with  a 
railway  really  assumed  definite  form.  Tsar  Alexander 
III  instructed  the  Tsarevitch,  when  he  landed  at  Vladi- 
vostok after  his  unpleasant  experience  in  Japan,  where  a 
crazy  policeman  had  tried  to  kill  him,  to  announce  that 
his  august  father  had  given  a  command  to  build  a  con- 


TRAIN    ACROSS     ASIA    AND    RUSSIA      129 

tinuous  line  of  railway  across  Siberia.  The  inauguration 
ceremony  was  performed  by  Tsar  Nicholas  II  at  Pervoya 
Rechka,  a  few  versts  from  "The  Golden  Horn"  at  Vladi- 
vostok. Until  after  the  war  between  Japan  and  China, 
the  railway  was  not  completed  all  across  the  continent. 
It  was  to  be  kept  in  Russian  territory,  following  the 
northern  bank  of  the  Amur  River  to  Khabarovsk  and 
then  go  south  to  Vladivostok.  For  a  long  time  the 
eastern  terminus  of  the  main  line  was  Stryetensk  on  the 
Shilka  tributary  of  the  Amur.  It  was  pushed  down  to 
Blagoveschensk,  and  no  farther,  because  after  the  Boxer 
trouble  of  1900  came  Russia's  opportunity  to  wring  from 
China  permission  to  build  across  Manchuria  and  down  to 
Port  Arthur.  Undoubtedly,  the  adverse  criticism  of  ten 
years  ago  was  justified.  The  railway  was  hastily  built; 
there  was  a  frightful  amount  of  stealing  and  scamping, 
and  for  years  it  was  a  very  poor  light  railway.  But 
since  1905  a  tremendous  lot  of  good  work  has  been  done 
in  rebuilding,  and  now  one  cannot  truthfully  say  that  the 
roadbed  is  so  weak  as  to  be  unable  to  bear  the  strain  of 
heavy  trains,  or  that  the  rolling-stock  is  entirely  inade- 
quate to  the  service.  The  speed  of  trains  is  not  great, 
even  now,  else  the  journey  would  not  be  so  lengthy  as 
it  is,  but  a  very  distinct  improvement  has  been  made  in 
five  years,  and  it  is  still  going  on. 


CHAPTER  X 

TEE  WEALTH  OF  SIBERIA 

BY  this  title  I  mean,  of  course,  the  natural  wealth  of 
the  country.  It  must  be  considered,  first,  as  to 
what  Nature  has  supplied  —  timber,  minerals,  and 
metals,  cultivable  and  grazing  regions,  and  other  re- 
sources of  the  land;  second,  the  marine  products  of  the 
adjacent  seas  and,  if  there  are  such,  raw  materials  from 
inland  waters.  The  timber  of  Siberia  is  said  to  be  inex- 
haustible, notwithstanding  that  there  are  unmistakable 
evidences  that  the  forest  areas  are  not  comparable  with 
what  they  were  in  former  times;  and  even  in  historic 
times,  we  know  that  there  has  been  wanton  destruction 
of  many  square  miles  of  valuable  timber,  felled  just  to 
make  the  progress  easier  for  advancing  armies.  Yet  we 
must  bear  in  mind  that  precisely  that  same  word, 
" inexhaustible,"  has  been  used  within  but  a  very  few 
years  when  speaking  of  the  timber  supply  of  these 
United  States  of  America;  and  we  all  know  well  that 
to-day  experts  are  determining  with  alarming  precision 
the  comparatively  few  years  that  the  existing  forests 
will  supply  our  needs,  unless  the  greatest  attention  is 
given  to  the  conservation  of  timber  areas  and  the  re- 
forestation of  tracts  that  are  susceptible  of  being  renewed. 
In  Siberia  there  is  undoubtedly  an  enormous  area 
that  is  well  timbered;  but  the  trees  are  rarely  so  large 
as  are  the  same  kinds  in  North  America.    The  methods 


THE     WEALTH     OF     SIBERIA  I31 

of  exploiting  the  timber  industry  are  the  most  destructive, 
and  the  science  of  forestry  is  neither  appreciated  for 
what  it  means  for  the  future,  nor  understood  in  the  proper 
way.  The  nearest  approach  to  this  science  is  that  the 
Russian  Government  insists  upon  the  preservation  of 
the  sources  of  cheap  fuel  for  manufacturing  enterprises 
and  domestic  use  —  wood  being  the  only  fuel  that  can 
be  used  in  the  huge  stoves  like  those  of  Germany. 
Restrictions  are  also  placed  upon  even  a  Russian  free- 
holder to  prevent  the  wanton  destruction  of  forests  and 
the  removing  of  " protective"  woods;  that  is,  such  as 
serve  to  prevent  rivers  from  cutting  into  their  banks 
where  this  involves  the  loss  of  arable  land,  flooding  dry 
tracts  of  useful  land,  etc.  In  such  cases,  the  owner  is 
not  allowed  to  fell  trees  on  his  own  property  without  a 
written  permit  from  the  Government. 

The  houses,  to  be  sure,  are  nearly  all  built  of  timber, 
and  this  fact  would  certainly  suggest  that  the  lumber 
industry  is  an  important  one.  Nevertheless,  the  char- 
acter of  the  lumber  used  in  the  houses  and  all  wooden 
buildings  shows  clearly  that  the  art  and  ability  of  the 
saw-miller  are  of  low  standards.  Many  of  the  houses 
are  of  the  rough  or  hewn  log-cabin  order  of  architecture. 

The  major  part  of  the  Siberian  timber  is  that  of  the 
coniferous  trees;  but  there  are  goodly  numbers  of  de- 
ciduous trees  as  well,  oak,  maple,  chestnut,  and  many 
others.  Probably  the  birch  is  the  most  plentiful,  and 
indications  justify  the  conclusion  that  it  is  easiest  reached 
and  handled,  for  most  of  the  railway  cross-ties  are  cut 
from  this  tree.  The  birch  is  supposed  to  supply  the 
best  material  for  paper-pulp;  and  already  a  beginning 
has  been  made  in  this  industry,  although  it  is  yet  in  its 
infancy  without  much  likelihood  that  it  will  soon  get 


I32        RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE    ANDASIA 

out  of  swaddling  clothes,  because  the  Government  is 
extremely  averse  to  granting  to  foreigners  concessions 
for  industrial  enterprises  in  Siberia,  while  Russians 
display  no  appreciable  energy  in  this  or  any  other 
practical  matter.  If  competent  American  workmen, 
backed  by  sufficient  capital  to  build  and  operate  mills, 
could  but  secure  the  needed  permission,  they  would 
surely  and  quickly  make  fortunes  for  all  interested. 

But  I  have  just  suggested  a  serious  obstacle  in  the 
pathway  of  would-be  exploiters  of  Siberia's  natural 
wealth,  which  deserves  some  special  attention.  It  is 
the  Government  (the  word  being  used  here  in  its  nar- 
rowest sense)  that  stands  as  the  most  serious  obstacle 
to  the  healthy  development  of  the  whole  Russian  Empire; 
for  it  is  the  Cabinet  Ministers  who  indicate  the  line  to 
be  taken  by  experiments  in  new  enterprises;  and  over 
all,  whether  tentative  or  matured,  they  exercise  the 
right  to  control  and  to  suppress,  if  they  see  fit.  This 
right  is  often  exercised  most  whimsically  and  arbitrarily. 
Without  the  consent  of  the  Government,  nothing  can 
be  begun  or  expanded,  and  when  it  seems  good  to  the 
officials  to  do  so  —  with  reason  or  without  —  an  enter- 
prise may  be  checked  in  its  demonstrated  ability  to 
expand,  or  it  may  be  wiped  out  altogether. 

Mr.  Gerrare  has  described  conditions  apposite  to  my 
present  purpose.  I  do  not  care  to  quote  in  full  all  he 
has  to  say,  but  I  make  liberal  use  of  his  statements, 
because  they  confirm  my  own  observation  as  well  as  my 
information  at  second  hand.  The  officials  are  bound  by 
the  laws,  by  numerous  and  complex  regulations,  and  by 
instructions  from  their  superiors,  and  they  not  only 
govern  the  country,  but  they  rule  it.  In  Russia  the 
mildest  expression  of  opinion  from  superior  to  subordinate 


THE     WEALTH    OF     SIBERIA  I33 

is  law.  The  tendency  is  to  increase  the  officials'  power, 
and  to  reduce  that  of  the  composite  councils  —  mentioned 
in  a  previous  chapter.  The  authority  of  the  Town 
Councils  has  lately  been  much  curtailed,  and  since  1889 
the  functions  of  the  communal  village  administration 
has  been  considerably  modified  and  almost  set  aside  by 
the  appointment  of  more  resident  district  magistrates. 
In  this  way  the  Central  Government  controls.  The 
State  leans  towards  Socialism,  by  directly  interfering 
with  industries  and  the  regulation  of  wages,  as  well  as 
by  carrying  on  manufacturing  and  other  enterprises. 
It  is  true,  of  course,  that  the  Government  does  not  intend 
to  let  any  taxable  commodity  fail  in  yielding  revenue; 
and  sometimes  this  determination  is  achieved  by  doing 
the  work  itself. 

Examples  of  this  State  interference  are  not  wanting  in 
Russia's  past  history.  Ivan  the  Terrible  would  not 
allow  the  Moscow  merchants  to  trade  without  his  per- 
sonal permission;  and  even  after  that  had  been  given, 
those  unfortunate  merchants  must  wait  until  he  and 
his  chancellors  had  bought  and  sold  in  every  market. 
The  Government  is  now  almost  as  jealous.  It  may  be 
that  its  interference  is  only  an  effort  to  disarm  Socialism 
by  adopting  as  much  of  its  policy  as  it  can  exploit  with 
profit  to  itself.  Exploitation  by  private  firms  is  regu- 
lated by  requiring  them  to  employ  State  officials.  For 
instance,  in  a  mine  there  must  be  an  engineer  who  is 
assumed  to  be  qualified  by  a  Government  degree  and 
who  wears  the  government  uniform,  yet  he  is  paid  by  the 
mining  company.  If  explosives  are  used,  another  and 
different  expert  must  be  taken  on.  There  must  be, 
besides,  an  inspector,  an  assistant  inspector,  a  superin- 
tendent of  police  and  numerous  policemen,  a  doctor. 


134       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE    AND    ASIA 

hospital  attendants,  nurses,  and  others,  according  to 
the  size  of  the  estate  and  the  volume  of  the  company's 
business.  All  these  must  be  paid  by  the  mine-owners, 
although  they  do  nothing,  and  are,  in  fact,  little  more 
than  Government  spies.  Strangest  of  all,  these  private 
companies  are  often  required  to  pay  the  salary,  or  part 
of  it,  of  the  local  justice.  In  some  cases,  the  company 
pays  all  these  salaries  into  the  State  Treasury,  and  that 
department  pays  its  servants.  Needless  to  say,  not 
unfrequently  the  sum  those  Government  employees 
receive  is  not  so  much  as  that  the  company  paid;  but 
this  is  one  of  the  Things  Russian. 

It  must  be  clear  to  all  that  this  Government  inter- 
ference is  a  serious  obstacle  in  the  pathway  of  develop- 
ment. The  very  industries  which  may  reasonably  be 
expected  to  contribute  most  to  the  financial  prosperity 
of  the  country  are  crippled,  and  at  times  completely 
blocked.  The  iron  mines  are  notoriously  unproductive; 
and  the  same  thing  is  to  be  said  of  copper,  coal,  and  even 
the  precious  metals.  "The  Magnitnaia  Gora"  is  de- 
clared to  be  the  largest  mass  of  magnetite  ever  seen; 
but  it  has  not  yet  been  exploited,  although  it  would  be 
an  easy  matter  to  smelt  several  million  tons  of  pig 
annually.  There  is  no  scarcity  of  iron  ore  in  the  Ural 
Mountains;  the  output  would  depend  upon  the  available 
fuel.  Yet  with  enormous  deposits  of  good  coal  and 
lignite  at  hand,  the  yearly  quantity  of  coal  mined  is 
less  than  fifteen  million  tons,  of  which  the  railways  take 
about  one  third. 

We  cannot,  however,  hold  the  Russian  Government 
alone  responsible  for  the  failure  to  develop  the  mineral 
resources  of  the  country.  Something  is  to  be  charged  to 
the  apathy  of  the  people  and  to  the  absence  of  healthy 


THE     WEALTH     OF     SIBERIA  135 

competition.  The  proprietors  and  lessees  of  State 
mining  properties  do  not  wish  to  see  any  new-comers, 
and  the  Government  would  not  lease  forest  land,  from 
which  fuel  is  to  be  taken,  to  any  possible  rivals  of  miners, 
even  though  its  forests  were  rotting  where  they  stand. 
Then  there  are  vexatious  restrictions  due  to  the  land 
not  having  been  properly  segregated  and  allotted  since 
the  serfs  were  emancipated  in  1861,  so  that  the  old  semi- 
feudal  tenure  is  still  in  force.  "Not  knowing  how  the 
land  will  be  divided,  and  what  portions  will  fall  to  their 
share,  landowners  do  not  care  to  improve  and  exploit 
land  which  maybe  taken  from  them,"  and  handed  over 
to  the  descendants  of  former  serfs.  In  the  Ural  region, 
a  good  deal  of  the  mining  and  forest  land  is  leased  from 
the  Bashkirs;  but  these  people  were  permitted  to  reserve 
the  right  to  fish  in  all  waters  and  to  have  free  access 
to  the  lakes  and  streams.  Their  maintenance  of  the 
right-of-way  leads  to  trouble  that  interferes  seriously 
with  the  miners'  plans. 

In  development  and  prosperity,  the  greatest  coal  and 
iron  field  in  Russia  is  that  of  the  Donetz  region,  in  the 
basin  of  the  Don  River,  South  Russia.  Success  here 
was  largely  due  to  the  few  restrictions  and  prohibitions 
put  upon  the  work  by  the  authorities,  and  because  all 
the  people  were  sufficiently  liberal-minded  as  to  render 
what  aid  they  could.  In  this  section  particularly,  but 
in  others  as  well,  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  there 
are  great  possibilities  in  the  coal  and  iron  industries  of 
European  Russia.  Conditions  being  properly  considered 
the  same  is  true  of  Siberia. 

The  great  plateau  of  Siberia  is  cut  at  its  edges  by  great 
depressions  which  have  been  appropriately  likened  to 
broad  railway  cuttings  with  easy  slopes.     The  streams 


136     RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE    AND    ASIA 

in  these  depressions  have,  from  an  indefinite  period  in 
the  past,  drained  lakes  and,  doubtless,  glaciers.  Gold- 
dust  is  found  in  nearly  all  of  these  broad  valleys,  as  well 
as  in  the  hills  bordering  them.  Gold-bearing  sand  has 
been  found  in  many  other  parts  of  Siberia.  In  the 
eastern  part  of  the  continent,  gold  is  obtained  almost 
exclusively  from  gravel  washings.  Quartz-mining  is 
carried  on  in  but  three  localities  of  eastern  Siberia;  one 
is  near  Vladivostok  and  the  other  two  are  in  Trans- 
baikalia. In  the  western  part  of  Russia's  Asiatic  domin- 
ions, quartz-mining  is  increasing  and  placer-washing 
decreasing.  Something  like  one  million  ounces  of  gold 
are  mined  in  the  various  ways  throughout  Siberia  each 
year.  Silver  and  silver-bearing  lead  ores  are  abundant; 
so,  too,  are  copper,  cinnabar,  and  tin.  No  one  of  these 
has  been  mined  as  it  should  be,  and  this  is  due  to  a  com- 
bination of  apathy  on  the  part  of  people,  the  difficulty 
of  inducing  home  capital  to  invest,  and  the  pernicious 
interference  of  the  Government,  who  will  not  permit 
foreign  capital  to  be  used.  Before  leaving  this  subject 
of  Siberia's  possibilities  as  a  producer  of  gold,  I  com- 
mend to  the  reader  the  account  of  the  "  New  California  " 
republic  in  the  upper  Jeltunga  valley,  Northern  Man- 
churia, which  Mr.  Gerrare  gives  on  pages  262  to  263  of 
his  "  Greater  Russia." 

Excellent  graphite  is  found  in  Siberia.  Rock-salt  is 
abundant  in  the  Lena  valley,  in  Transbaikalia,  and 
elsewhere.  From  Omsk  westward  as  far  as  Tula  in 
European  Russia,  the  traveller  is  made  to  realise  that  the 
Ural  Mountains  are  rich  in  precious  and  ornamental 
stones,  jasper,  malachite,  beryl,  dark  quartz,  and  many 
other,  some  of  them  really  gems.  At  all  the  principal 
stations,  watch-charms,  trinkets  of  all  sorts,  and  even 


THE     WEALTH     OF     SIBERIA  137 

larger  pieces,  are  offered  for  sale;  and  all  of  them  are 
tempting.  At  Ekaterinburg  there  are  quite  large  stone- 
polishing  works;  also  at  Kolyvan  in  the  Altai,  and  else- 
where. This  industry  is  growing  and  is  profitable. 
Altogether  considered,  it  must  be  admitted  that  Siberia's 
mineral  wealth  is  very  great. 

Petroleum  is  the  one  Russian  industry  that  has  been 
developed  until  it  showed  positive  rivalry  with  the  same 
business  in  America.  As  yet  the  possibilities  of  Siberia 
in  this  line  have  not  been  exploited  —  considering 
Siberia  politically  and  not  geographically,  because  some 
parts  of  the  Urals  which  should  naturally  be  considered 
as  pertaining  to  Asia,  have  been  producing  considerable 
quantities  of  petroleum  for  some  time. 

It  is  the  Black  and  Caspian  Seas  oil-fields,  Batoum 
and  Baku,  which  have  entered  into  this  rivalry;  and  it 
must  have  been  something  entitled  to  respectful  con- 
sideration, for  the  Standard  Oil  Company  has  repeatedly 
tried  to  gain  a  foothold  in  the  Russian  oil-fields.  Whe- 
ther this  effort  has  been  entirely  successful  or  not,  I 
have  no  means  of  ascertaining;  yet  I  have  good  reason 
to  suspect  it  has,  for  in  the  great  consuming  districts 
of  the  Far  East  —  China  and  Japan  —  where  successful 
competition  by  the  Russian  oil  would  adversely  affect 
the  Standard  Oil  Company,  there  is  no  indication  of 
disaster  to  that  company.  It  cannot  be  the  superior 
quality  of  the  American  oil  alone  that  has  enabled  the 
Standard  to  maintain  its  supremacy,  and  Russian  oil  — 
even  when  carefully  refined  —  is  much  heavier  than 
American. 

Russians  declare  that  there  is  an  agreement  between 
some  of  their  fellow-countrymen  and  representatives  of 
the  Standard,  which  secures  to  the  latter  a  monopoly  of 


138       RUSSIA     IN    EUR  OP  E    AND     ASIA 

the  business  by  resorting  to  the  usual  methods:  purchas- 
ing some  of  the  going  concerns  and  promising  properties, 
securing  a  controlling  interest  in  others,  and  starving 
out  other  owners  who  are  unwilling  to  listen  to  reason, 
as  defined  by  the  giant!  There  is,  however,  one  impor- 
tant matter  that  rather  tends  to  cause  a  doubt  as  to  the 
success  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  and  that  is  the 
fact  that  the  Russian  Government  is  opposed  to  the 
creating  of  private  monopolies. 

The  largest  and  best  of  the  Russian  oil-fields  that  have 
as  yet  been  developed  promise  to  be  short  lived.  The 
Baku  district  never  covered  a  wide  territory,  and  it  is 
more  than  likely  to  be  exhausted  in  a  comparatively 
few  years.  The  average  daily  supply  from  producing 
wells  is  diminishing  markedly;  there  are  very  few 
" flowing"  wells  tapped  now,  and  pumping  is  becoming 
more  and  more  difficult  and  expensive. 

There  was,  at  least,  one  year  when  the  output  of  crude 
oil  from  Russia's  Black  and  Caspian  Seas  fields  not  only 
rivalled,  but  actually  exceeded  that  of  the  United  States. 
In  1899,  2,197  million  gallons  were  obtained;  that  was 
15  per  cent,  more  than  the  total  from  American  wells. 

In  the  Baku  district  there  are  something  like  twenty 
thousand  hands  employed,  directly  or  indirectly,  in 
this  petroleum  industry.  Only  about  a  fourth  of  all 
these  are  actually  employed  in  sinking  wells,  handling 
the  crude  oil,  refining  it,  and  securing  some  of  the  by- 
products. Of  the  whole  number  of  working-people, 
less  than  one  half  are  true  Russians.  There  are  many 
Persians,  Tartars,  Turcomans,  Armenians,  and  others 
from  the  countries  of  southeastern  Europe  and  the 
adjacent  parts  of  Asia.  These  are  willing  to  work  for 
a  very  small  wage,  and  these  facts  deserve  careful  con- 


THE     WEALTH     OF     SIBERIA  139 

sideration.  Yet,  bearing  in  mind  what  labour  really 
means  in  that  country,  man  for  man,  it  is  probably  true 
that  those  Batoum  and  Baku  workmen  get  pay  that  is 
comparable  with  what  is  given  in  the  United  States. 

Assuming  that  the  Russian  Government  is  entirely 
sincere  in  its  apparent  determination  to  prevent  such  a 
monopoly  as  there  would  be  if  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany's Russian  associates  secured  control;  when  the 
Siberian  oil-fields  are  properly  worked  and  the  trans- 
Siberian  Railway  double- tracked,  there  will  be  a  change 
in  conditions  in  the  Far  East.  With  the  construction 
of  the  railway  lines  into  China,  it  will  be  possible  to 
deliver  refined  oil  in  the  populous  Yangtze  valley  pro- 
vinces at  prices  with  which  even  tank  steamers  cannot 
compete.  As  a  source  of  future  wealth,  the  oil-fields 
of  Siberia  may  have  great  possibilities. 

I  must  leave  this  interesting  subject,  of  products  that 
are  supplied  by  Nature,  without  exhausting  it;  and 
proceed  to  consider  what  the  soil  may  bear  in  return 
for  man's  effort.  Climate  is  such  an  important  factor 
in  determining  the  character  and  extent  of  the  agricul- 
tural resources  and  products  of  a  country,  that  this 
subject  must  receive  some  attention. 

That  Siberia  has  hitherto  borne  an  unenviable  reputa- 
tion in  this  matter  is,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
entirely  reasonable;  and  there  is  no  disputing  the  fact 
that  for  the  greater  portion  of  the  year  the  climate  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  is  extremely  severe.  Prince 
Kropotkin  and  Mr.  Bealby  *  tell  us  of  minimum  tem- 
peratures of-840  F.  to-900  at  Yakutsk  and  Verkho- 
yansk; while  at  Krasnoyarsk  it  is— 67  °,  at  Irkutsk 
-51  °,  at  Omsk-560,  at  Tobolsk-580.    Verkhoyansk  is 

*Enc.  Brit.,  nth  ed. 


140       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE    AND    ASIA 

on  the  Jana  River,  67  °  north  and  133  °  east.  It  is  almost 
due  north  of  Vladivostok,  but  nearly  two  thousand  miles 
from  that  place.  R  is  the  pole  of  cold  in  the  eastern 
hemisphere,  and  naturally  is  a  town  that  is  dreaded  by 
all  Europeans  who  are  compelled  to  reside  there  officially, 
or  who  are  sent  there  as  punishment. 

The  rigorous  climate  of  Siberia  is  due  to  the  physical 
conformation  of  the  continent:  the  great  plateau  of 
Central  Asia,  defined  by  hills  that  are  low  when  compared 
with  the  surrounding  country,  yet  of  considerable  altitude 
above  the  level  of  the  ocean,  prevents  the  moderating 
influence  of  the  sea  air  from  the  east  and  southeast  being 
felt,  while  the  vast  plain  lies  open  to  the  influence  of  the 
Arctic  Ocean.  It  is,  however,  somewhat  surprising  to 
know  how  high  the  snow-line  is  all  over  Siberia.  In  the 
eastern  parts,  where  there  are  heights  up  to  10,000  feet 
and  more  above  sea-level,  the  snow-line  is  found  only 
on  the  Munku-Sardyk,  above  10,000  feet.  On  the  Altai 
Mountains,  the  snow-line  runs  about  7,000  feet  above 
the  sea. 

Yet  the  traveller  by  the  trans-Siberian  Railway  passes 
through  some  of  these  very  towns  which  have  such  an 
unenviable  reputation  for  low  temperature,  and  the 
trains  are  really  very  seldom  detained  by  the  snow. 
When  the  trip  is  made  in  summer  it  is  difficult  to  realise 
the  winter  conditions;  for  during  the  long,  really  hot 
days  of  July  and  August  vegetation  seems  to  contradict 
all  the  statements  about  the  winter's  minimum  tempera- 
ture. Spring  comes  fairly  early  all  through  the  Siberian 
meridional  belt,  for  by  the  end  of  April  there  is  evidence 
of  reviving  nature  in  the  appearance  of  many  hardy 
and  over- venturesome  wild  flowers,  but  in  the  second 
half  of  May  come  the  "icy  saints'  days,"  so  blighting 


THE     WEALTH    OF     SIBERIA  141 

that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  cultivate  the  apple  or  the 
pear. 

Yet  when  this  dangerous  period  is  passed,  the  real 
summer  sets  in  with  astonishing  rapidity;  for  the 
eighteen  or  twenty  hours  of  broad  and  hot  daylight  are 
more  than  able  to  counteract  any  ill  effects  of  the  short 
nights,  even  when  they  are  exceptionally  cold  and 
possibly  frosty.  Wheat  is  sown  all  along  a  broad  belt 
north  and  south  of  the  railway  from  Yakutsk  eastward 
to  the  Manchurian  frontier.  This  is  done  towards  the 
end  of  May  or  very  early  in  June,  and  the  fact  that  it  is 
ready  to  be  cut  in  August,  speaks  for  the  vigorous  char- 
acter of  the  summer.  One  of  the  most  pleasing  sights 
that  greet  the  traveller's  eyes  is  the  evidence  of  this 
successful  wheat-growing. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  declared  by  some  authorities  that 
in  the  whole  of  Siberia's  nearly  five  million  square  miles, 
not  more  than  half  a  million  are  fit  for  cultivation.  A. 
Kaufman  *  says  that  in  the  governments  or  provinces 
of  Tobolsk,  Tomsk,  Yeneiseisk,  Irkutsk,  Transbaikalia, 
Amur,  and  southern  Usuri,  there  were  less  than  twenty 
million  acres  under  cultivation.  Now,  many  Russians 
and  some  outsiders  are  more  optimistic  than  this  would 
indicate;  and  these  contend  that  by  careful  selection  of 
locality  and  wise  adaptation  of  crops  to  local  conditions, 
it  will  be  possible  greatly  to  expand  the  agricultural 
resources  of  Siberia.  Such,  at  any  rate,  were  the  state- 
ments made  to  me  by  residents  all  the  way  from  Man- 
djulie  Station  to  Cheliabinsk;  or  the  whole  region 
traversed  by  the  Siberian  Railway,  after  re-entering 
Russian  territory. 

Still,  the  export  of  wheat  and  other  grains  from  Siberia 

*  Russian  Encyclopaedic  Dictionary,  Vol.  LIX,  1900. 


142      RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

has  not  yet  begun.  On  the  contrary,  the  home  produc- 
tion of  cereals  does  not  equal  the  demand,  and  much 
has  to  be  brought  in  to  supply  bread  to  the  existing 
population.  At  present,  the  following  named  may  be 
called  the  principal  grain-producing  sections:  Tobolsk 
and  Ishmin,  Baraba,  around  Tomsk,  and  the  outlying 
foothills  of  the  Altai  Mountains.  The  Minusinsk 
district  (south  of  the  railway,  between  90  °  and  100  ° 
east  longitude)  is  one  of  the  richest  and  most  charming 
sections  of  Siberia.  It  has  been  called  "The  Switzerland 
of  Siberia."  There  are  more  than  45,000  inhabitants,  of 
whom  24,000  are  nomads.  Over  45,000  acres  are  under 
cultivation  and  yield  crops  that  would  satisfy  the  most 
exacting. 

A  few  words  should  be  added  about  the  method  of 
farming,  and  most  of  the  statements  confirm  my  own 
observation,  or  what  was  told  by  fellow-travellers,  and 
residents,  with  a  few  of  whom  I  was  able  to  converse  at 
stations.  I  quote  from  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica: 
"Tilling  is  conducted  on  very  primitive  methods.  After 
four  to  twelve  years'  cultivation,  the  land  is  allowed  to 
lie  fallow  for  ten  years  or  more.  In  the  Baraba  district 
it  is  the  practise  to  sow  different  grain  crops  in  three  to 
seven  years,  and  then  let  the  land  rest  ten  to  twenty-five 
years.  The  yield  from  the  principal  crops  fluctuates 
greatly;  indeed,  in  a  very  good  year  it  is  almost  three 
times  that  in  a  very  bad  one.  The  southern  portions  of 
Tobolsk,  nearly  all  the  government  of  Tomsk  (except 
those  of  the  Narym  region),  southern  Yeniseisk  and 
southern  Irkutsk,  have  in  an  average  year  a  surplus  of 
grain  varying  from  35  to  40  per  cent,  of  the  total  crop; 
but  in  bad  years  the  crop  falls  short  of  the  actual  needs 
of  the  population.     There  is  considerable  movement  of 


THE     WEALTH     OF     SIBERIA  143 

grain  in  Siberia  itself,  the  populations  of  vast  portions 
of  the  territory,  especially  of  the  mining  regions,  having 
to  rely  upon  imported  corn."  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
the  threatened  competition  of  Siberian  wheat  with  our 
American  crop  in  the  markets  of  the  world  is  rather  a 
thing  of  the  future  than  something  to  be  considered 
seriously  now. 

The  wheat  belt  of  Russia  is  undoubtedly  an  immense 
tract;  but  most  of  it  is  in  the  "black  soil"  region  of 
southeastern  European  Russia,  below  the  railway  from 
Moscow  to  Cheliabinsk,  which  is  the  first  link  of  the 
trans-Siberian  fine.  This  region  must  be  better  supplied 
than  it  is  with  railways,  and  there  must  be  more  agricul- 
turalist settlers  before  the  territory  south  of  Tula  and 
Samara  can  be  properly  developed.  This  land  is  said 
by  experts  to  be  capable  of  producing  better  wheat  than 
comes  from  the  lower  Danube  valley;  and  this  is  de- 
clared to  be  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  best  of  the  Red 
River  country  in  North  Dakota  and  Manitoba. 

The  soil  in  many  parts  of  Siberia  is  well  adapted  to 
wheat  cultivation,  although  there  is  probably  no  place 
that  equals  the  best  of  the  "black  soil  "  which,  in  some 
sections,  is  more  than  six  feet  thick.  Such  land  could 
hardly  be  exhausted  if  it  were  farmed  in  a  sensible  man- 
ner. But  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Russian  Empire 
agricultural  methods  are  yet  most  primitive.  Rotation 
of  crops,  if  it  is  understood  at  all,  is  not  even  attempted; 
fertilisers  are  rarely  used;  all  that  is  done  to  restore  the 
soil,  when  it  begins  to  show  signs  of  exhaustion,  is  to  let 
it  lie  fallow.  Perhaps  the  Russian  Empire  may  come  to 
be  a  rival  of  America  in  the  production  of  wheat  and 
other  cereals ;  but  until  the  farmers  there  are  encouraged 
to  greater  independence,  and  learn  their  business  better, 


144       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

we  have  little  to  fear.  Strange  as  it  must  sound,  it  is 
in  that  very  "  black  soil  region, "  where  agricultural  possi- 
bilities should  be  greatest,  that  the  most  disastrous 
famines  occur  and  spread  their  destructive  influence 
far  to  the  north. 

Another  industry  connected  with  the  soil,  but  one  that 
is  as  yet  of  very  small  proportions  when  compared  with 
others,  is  bee-keeping.  Many  of  the  Siberian  natives 
and  settlers  are  engaged  in  this  as  supplementary  to 
other  occupations,  and  a  good  deal  of  honey  is  sent  to 
European  Russia,  where  there  is  a  demand  for  it  ex- 
ceeding the  supply.  It  will  be  admitted  that  there  is 
much  wealth  for  Siberia  in  prosecuting  agricultural  pur- 
suits; but  it  is  evident  that  methods  must  be  radically 
changed  before  this  wealth  can  be  garnered  to  any 
appreciable  extent. 

I  shall  content  myself  with  a  very  brief  mention  of 
the  source  of  wealth  that  Eastern  Siberia  possesses  in 
marine  products.  Seal-catching  was  the  most  important 
of  these,  and  one  Russian  company  took  some  thirty 
thousand  of  these  animals  each  year;  while  many  more 
were  killed  by  " pirates"  (unlicensed  sealers),  who  ran 
their  catch  into  Japanese  or  Chinese  ports.  All  inter- 
national efforts  to  control  this  industry  and  prevent 
the  total  destruction  of  the  fur-seal  have  been  but  partly 
successful. 

Whaling,  fishing,  and  kindred  pursuits  are  all  profit- 
able, in  varying  degrees.  The  fish-canning  industry  is 
receiving  attention  which  grows  each  year,  and  is  adding 
a  little  to  Siberia's  wealth.  Wherever  there  are  Russians, 
there  will  be  a  demand  for  caviare,  and  there  are  found 
some  sturgeon  in  the  waters  of  Eastern  Siberia,  so  that 
the  local  demand  is  more  than  supplied,  leaving  some  to 


THE     WEALTH     OF     SIBERIA  145 

be  exported  from   Vladivostok  to  Japan,   China,   and 
elsewhere  in  the  Far  East. 

A  good  deal  could  be  said  about  other  wealth-producing 
industries,  such  as  the  weaving  of  textile  fabrics,  the 
manufacture  of  glassware,  porcelain,  and  pottery,  chemi- 
cals, paper,  etc.  They  are  as  yet  almost  entirely  re- 
stricted to  European  Russia.  All  of  these  are  yielding 
handsome  profits  and  the  enterprises  are  expanding  in 
volume  and  increasing  in  number.  Low  wages  con- 
tribute much  to  the  profits ;  but  it  must  always  be  borne 
in  mind  that  a  great  deal  of  the  apparent  profit  is  abso- 
lutely fictitious,  just  as  is  the  case  with  many  of  our 
own  "protected"  manufactures.  In  not  one  of  the 
articles  I  have  named,  or  any  other,  could  Russia  com- 
pete with  other  countries  in  an  "open"  market.  If  the 
prohibitive  duties  were  not  maintained,  it  would  be 
much  cheaper  for  Russia  to  import  pretty  much  every- 
thing. Yet  with  enormous  supplies  of  raw  materials, 
the  time  will  doubtless  come  when  the  Russian  workman 
will  be  able  to  compete  on  entirely  equal  terms  with  all 
other  comers,  just  as  we  can  now  build  steel  bridges 
for  Asiatic  and  African  railways,  in  the  very  face  of 
European  competition. 


CHAPTER  XI 
COLONISATION 

QUITE  a  distinct  parallel  may  be  drawn  between 
the  incentives  which  led  to  and  the  methods  fol- 
lowed in  the  colonisation  and  development  of  Siberia, 
and  the  conditions  which  existed  in  North  America  at 
about  the  same  time.  If  we  ignore  the  earlier  and  alto- 
gether impermanent  efforts  of  the  Spaniards,  and  begin 
with  Raleigh's  first  English  settlement,  at  Roanoke, 
Virginia,  in  1585;  and  then  if  we  accept  the  Russians' 
statement  that  in  1586  really  began  the  attempt  to 
colonise  Siberia,  the  coincidence  of  dates  will  strike  one 
forcibly. 

As  has  been  already  stated,  immediately  after  Yermak 
had  effected  the  conquest  of  the  central  Irtish  valley  — 
just  a  little  bit  of  the  enormous  domain  that  was  ere 
long  to  be  known  as  Sibir  —  and  had  laid  his  trophy  at 
the  feet  of  the  Tsar,  Ivan  the  Terrible,  in  1582,  there 
were  numbers  of  adventurers,  hunters,  and  fur-traders 
who  went  into  the  new  country  from  European  Russia. 
These  pioneers  were  stimulated  to  adventure  by  the 
alluring  reports  of  game,  furs,  gold,  perhaps,  and  cer- 
tainly a  freedom  greater  than  even  the  highest  in  rank 
could  hope  for  in  Greater  Russia,  for  already  the  people 
were  coming  to  realise  most  fully  that  "the  nearer  the 
Tsar,  the  greater  the  danger!'1  May  we  not  find  in  the 
motives  which  led  the  first  settlers  to  cross  the  Atlantic 
very  much  the  same  story? 


COLONISATION  147 

But  it  was  not  long  until  a  more  satisfactory  attempt 
to  colonise  Siberia  was  made  by  sending  a  number  of 
peasants,  in  1586,  to  settle  in  the  new  country  and  try 
to  develop  its  resources.  Again,  the  parallel  between 
the  exploitation  of  America  and  Siberia  will  be  found  to 
continue  in  the  methods  employed.  Besides  the  peasants 
who  were  properly  assumed  to  be  farmers  or  stock- 
raisers,  or  usually  a  combination  of  both,  there  were 
sent  a  greater  number  of  soldiers.  These  latter  were 
handy  fellows,  who  successfully  combined  in  themselves 
military  prowess  with  a  considerable  ability  to  cultivate 
the  soil.  In  addition,  these  soldiers,  under  the  direction 
of  their  petty  officers,  attended  directly  to  the  collecting 
of  tribute  from  the  natives.  They  also  superintended 
and  took  a  hand  in  traffic. 

The  principal  occupation  of  these  soldiers  was,  natu- 
rally, that  of  protecting  themselves  and  others  from  the 
attacks  of  the  Tartars,  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
roam  at  their  pleasure  over  the  broad  area  stretching, 
on  the  east,  from  the  lofty  mountain  ranges  which  sepa- 
rate Siberia  and  the  Russian  Central  Asian  provinces 
from  Chinese  domains,  westward  to  the  Ural  Mountains 
and  the  Aral  and  Caspian  Seas.  These  nomads  could 
not  see  that  any  benefit  came  to  them  from  Russian 
"protection,"  which  justified  the  Europeans  in  demand- 
ing tribute  or  required  themselves  to  pay  it.  They  re- 
sented the  intrusion  of  the  invaders,  and  their  resistance 
asserted  itself,  at  times,  most  effectively,  for  they  some- 
times inflicted  severe  chastisement  upon  the  Russian 
soldiers  and  almost  constantly  harassed  the  civilian 
settlers. 

The  Russians  undertook  to  build  a  line  of  fortified 
outposts  in  precisely  the  same  way  that  the  earliest 


148       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

European  settlers  in  North  America  tried  to  protect 
their  frontiers  from  the  Indians.  In  both  cases,  too, 
the  advance  lines  of  these  forts  in  Asia  and  those  block- 
houses in  America,  were  never  more  than  a  tentative 
occupation  of  the  land,  and  oftener  by  unfair  encroach- 
ment than  by  just  purchase.  These  outposts  were 
pushed  forward,  step  by  step,  in  both  continents.  Of 
America  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  more  here;  but  Russia's 
audacity  may  be  alluded  to  again,  when  I  write  of  Russia 
in  Central  Asia. 

Tara,  a  place  of  sufficient  importance  even  now  to  be 
called  a  "city,"  for  it  has  a  population  estimated  at 
something  like  8000,  and  a  considerable  trade  in  furs 
and  cattle,  was  a  very  good  type  of  these  early  frontier 
settlements  that  were  originally  started  to  achieve  the 
double  purpose  of  aggression  and  protection.  It  is  on 
the  Irtish  River,  135  miles  north  of  Omsk  and  200  miles 
up  the  stream  from  Tobolsk.  The  place  was  founded 
in  1594  and  the  fort  (Russian,  ostrog)  was  originally  a 
rectangular  outer  structure,  1400  feet  long  and  1050  feet 
wide.  Beyond  its  wooden  wall  was  a  stout  palisade,  a 
sort  of  cheveux  de  frise.  Inside  of  the  wall,  and  well 
protected  by  it,  were  loghouses  for  the  subordinate 
officials  and  military  officers,  as  well  as  barracks  for  the 
Cossack  soldiers  and  their  families.  At  the  centre  of 
this  first  enclosure  was  another  strong  wooden  wall 
around  what  may  be  likened  roughly  to  a  citadel.  It 
was  about  300  feet  square,  and  inside  it  were  the  church, 
the  official  residence  of  the  Governor  (a  high-rank  army 
officer,  it  is  needless  to  say),  the  powder  magazine,  the 
storehouses  for  government  supplies,  tribute,  etc.,  the  trad- 
ing post  and  the  canteen,  or  shop  at  which  the  garrison 
and  the  neighbouring  settlers  supplied  their  wants. 


COLONISATION  149 

Twenty  years  later  Kuznetzk,  in  the  present  govern- 
ment of  Tomsk,  but  well  on  towards  the  Altai  Moun- 
tains, was  founded,  and  thus  another  of  these  outposts 
of  colonisation  came  into  existence.  Kuznetzk  is  now 
but  a  small  town  of  some  3000  inhabitants.  It  is  205 
miles  southeast  of  Tomsk,  400  miles  in  about  the  same 
direction  from  Tara,  and  570  miles  from  Tobolsk,  as  the 
crow  flies.  In  the  earliest  days  of  these  two  posts, 
one  small  company  of  Cossacks  was  assigned  to  duty  at 
both,  and  they  were  expected  to  protect  the  whole  of 
the  country  between  the  Irtish  and  the  Ob  rivers,  a 
large  region  known  as  the  Barabinsk  Steppe.  I  may  seem 
to  have  been  needlessly  precise  in  the  information  given 
about  these  two  little  places,  which  were  among  the 
earliest  factors  of  Russia's  advance  movement;  but 
they  are  interesting  because  they  were  the  small  begin- 
ning of  what  was  soon  to  become  something  great. 

To  avoid  the  danger  of  repetition,  I  shall  say  merely 
that  the  Russian  plan  for  building  a  chain  of  these  out- 
posts bearing,  in  direction,  towards  the  south  and  south- 
east in  Siberia,  was  thwarted  by  the  Tartars.  These 
natives  were  soon  found  to  be  too  numerous  and  too 
warlike  to  permit  of  the  Russians  carrying  out  their 
plans,  for  a  very  long  time.  Notwithstanding  that  the 
forts  were  provided  with  cannon  and  the  soldiers  bore 
firearms,  the  Tartars  were  quite  able  to  prevent  the 
further  intrusion  upon  their  lands  of  the  Europeans  for 
nearly  three  centuries.  It  is,  of  course,  this  fact  rather 
than  anything  like  deliberate  choice  which  determined, 
for  such  a  long  time,  the  course  of  Russian  immigration 
so  far  to  the  northward  of  what  is  really  the  most  attrac- 
tive belt  of  Siberia. 

The  Tunguses  and  Buriats,  branches  of   the  great 


150       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Mongolian  family  and  found  along  the  Yenisei  and 
throughout  the  western  central  parts  of  Siberia,  refused 
for  a  long  time  to  comply  with  the  Russian  demand  that 
they  admit  themselves  conquered,  place  themselves  under 
Muscovite  rule,  and  pay  tribute.  This  opposition  proved 
to  be  another  obstacle  to  Russian  plans  and  temporarily 
turned  the  course  of  immigration  from  the  upper  Yenisei 
northward  and  northeastward  into  the  valley  of  the  Lena 
River  and  its  tributaries. 

It  was  not  until  1648  that  the  Russians  made  their 
way  up  the  Angara  River  to  its  source  in  Lake  Baikal. 
They  crossed,  or  went  round  the  southern  end  of  the 
lake,  and  built  an  advanced  outpost  fort  at  the  place 
now  called  Verkne  Udinsk  (already  mentioned). 
\  It  is  said  by  some  writers  that  Russia  had  begun, 
about  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  to  feel  the  influence 
of  those  new  forces,  material,  political,  social,  which 
had  everywhere  surprisingly,  and  in  not  a  few  regions 
alarmingly,  transformed  conditions,  so  that  the  historian 
will  be  compelled  to  take  an  altogether  different  stand, 
when  discussing  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries 
from  what  had  been  the  view-point  previously.  Because 
of  this  change,  there  had  come  a  feeling  in  European 
Russia  that  increase  in  population  had  brought  a  press- 
ing need  for  enlarged  opportunities  for  extension  and 
development. 

The  desire  for  expansion  is,  I  grant,  something  that 
is  almost  insatiable  with  most  of  the  Russian  officials, 
the  Grand  Dukes,  the  militarists,  and  others.  The 
idea  of  development  along  lines  that  make  for  the  good 
of  the  country  and  of  the  whole  people,  has  not  yet 
asserted  itself  in  anything  like  a  satisfactory  manner, 
or  even  a  sensible  one.     The  necessity  for  colonising 


COLONISATION  151 

Siberia  because  of  congestion  in  any  part  of  European 
Russia,  either  as  an  existing  fact  or  as  an  impending 
probability,  I  deny  unhesitatingly.  It  is  quite  true 
that  in  Russia,  as  in  every  other  country,  the  greatest 
increase  of  population  has  been  in  the  cities;  but  if  the 
Government  intends  to  relieve  the  slums  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, Moscow,  Warsaw,  and  other  urban  centres,  by 
drawing  off  the  ineffective  mass  into  rural  districts, 
there  are  plenty  of  thousands  of  square  miles  west  of 
the  Urals  to  be  made  available  before  there  will  be  a 
semblance  of  necessity  for  going  across  the  frontier. 

Census  statistics  are  about  as  unsatisfactory  in  Russia, 
and  as  far  from  being  up  to  date,  as  is  any  information 
we  can  desire.  However,  making  the  best  of  that  which 
is  available,  the  Statesman's  Year  Book  and  Almanach 
de  Gotha  for  191 2,  we  have  these  figures: 


Aj-ea  in 
sq.  mis. 

Population 

Population 
to  sq.  ml. 

Russia  in  Europe  including 

the  Baltic  Provinces 

1,862,524 

116,505,500 

62.5 

Cis  (or  Northern)  Caucasia 

85,201 

4,820,000 

56.6 

Transcaucasia 

95,402 

6,572,400 

68.8 

Poland 

49,018 

11,671,800 

238.1 

Finland 

144,000 

3,015,700 

20.9 

It  is  seen  that  Poland  is  the  most  densely  populated 
of  all  the  divisions  of  Russia  in  Europe.  Yet  when  we 
compare  the  number  of  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile 
(238.1),  with  that  of  Holland  (466),  it  is  impossible  to 
say  that  any  part  of  the  Russian  Empire  is  overcrowded. 
As  an  exponent  of  what  an  overcrowded  population 
really  is,  we  look  to  some  of  the  provinces  of  China 
proper. 

It  is  true  that  nearly  one  half  of  Greater  Russia  is  not 
fitted  by  Nature  to  support  a  large  population;   and  it 


152       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

is  equally  true  that  considerable  areas  of  the  other 
sections,  by  reason  of  mountains  and  other  physical 
disqualification,  cannot  probably  admit  of  any  great 
increase.  But  to  say  that  because  of  existing  or  threat- 
ened congestion  any  portion  needs  to  be  drained  off  into 
Siberia,  is  ridiculous. 

Mr.  G.  F.  Wright,  in  his  " Asiatic  Russia,"  divides 
the  stream  of  emigrants  from  Russia  in  Europe  into 
Siberia,  in  this  way.  First,  there  were  Cossacks  who 
developed  some  capacity  as  agriculturalists,  but  were 
chiefly  looked  to  for  the  protection  of  the  frontier  and 
as  a  military  force  to  push  that  frontier  still  farther 
forward.  It  must,  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
Cossack  who  turns  his  hand  to  farming  or  stock-raising, 
and  a  goodly  number  of  them  have  done  so,  evinces  a 
strong  disinclination  to  respond  to  a  call  to  take  up  arms 
and  become  again  a  mere  soldier.  Those  Cossacks  who 
have  been  commended  as  furnishing  the  best  material 
in  the  Russian  army  are  not  encouraged  to  become 
peaceful,  domesticated  tillers  of  the  soil. 

The  second  class  is  made  up  of  peasants,  either  those 
who  are  sent  as  punishment,  or  induced  by  the  govern- 
ment to  settle  at  convenient  places  for  the  maintenance 
of  communication,  trade,  or  travel.  These,  like  the 
Cossacks,  were  favoured  by  special  grants  of  land  and  a 
certain  amount  of  government  assistance.  They  were 
to  be  ready,  upon  payment  of  a  reasonable  fee,  to  serve 
the  interests  of  all  travellers  who  had  occasion  to  use 
the  post  roads.  I  do  not  see  why  the  voluntary  emi- 
grants, of  whom  there  is  more  to  say  a  little  later,  should 
not  be  included  in  this  class. 

Third,  there  were  the  strielitz,  or  regular  troops,  who 
were  stationed  at  the  forts  which  had  been  built  at 


COLONISATION  153 

strategic  points.  In  addition  to  their  duties  as  warriors, 
these  regulars  do  a  good  deal  of  police  work  as  gens 
d'armes.  They  also,  especially  in  Manchuria,  where 
they  act  as  railway  guards,  perform  the  duties  of  signal- 
men; and  at  highroad  crossings,  one  often  sees  a  soldier 
standing  at  ease,  but  with  fixed  bayonet,  and  waving 
the  little  flag  which  tells  the  engine-man  that  the  line  is 
clear. 

In  the  fourth  class  are  the  yamschiks,  regular  Russian 
officials,  but  of  low  grade,  who  are  charged  with  the 
responsibility  of  maintaining  the  postal  service  on  lines 
away  from  the  modern  routes,  and  with  keeping  a  supply 
of  horses  at  convenient  intervals  for  the  use  of  officials 
and  other  travellers  who  have  occasion  to  make  use  of 
this  method  of  travel;  but  no  Russian  will  go  by  the 
post  roads  when  he  can,  even  by  making  a  long  detour 
and  wasting  a  lot  of  time,  take  the  train  or  steamboat. 
It  is  the  successful  effort  of  the  yamschik  on  the  Siberian 
post  roads  which  has  made  travel  so  regular,  rapid,  easy, 
and  economical  that,  except  for  the  carriage  of  heavy 
goods,  the  need  of  more  expeditious  modes  of  transit 
has  not  been  so  pressingly  felt  as  it  has  been  in  most 
other  countries.  Two  hundred  miles  a  day  is  by  no 
means  an  uncommon  rate  of  travel  across  Siberia,  by 
using  the  convenient  tarantass,  or  sledge,  and  securing 
frequent  changes  of  horses  at  the  regular  posting  stations. 

Another  class  who  may  be  considered  as  colonists 
sent  out  by  Government,  consisted  of  free  convicts  who 
were  placed  under  a  variety  of  regulations,  according  to 
the  character  and  result  of  the  crimes  which  they  had 
committed.  But  of  these  it  will  be  better  to  speak  in 
the  next  chapter,  Exiles  and  Convicts. 

In  addition  to  those  colonists  who  were  in  these  several 


154      RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

ways  under  the  supervision  or  patronage  of  the  Govern- 
ment, there  has  been  from  almost  the  first  year  in  which 
attention  was  attracted  to  Siberia,  a  large  and  steadily 
increasing  volume  of  free  colonisation.  There  have 
been  many  reasons  for  this;  from  a  laudable  desire  to 
improve  conditions  of  life,  to  discontent  of  various  sorts. 
Some  of  the  dissatisfaction  is  of  the  kinds  common  to  all 
countries ;  but  much  of  it  arises  from  conditions  peculiar 
to  Russia.  In  the  latter  category  may  be  included  the 
dislike  to  enforced  military  service  for  a  considerable 
term  of  years,  the  hampering  of  individual  freedom  by 
some  of  the  peculiar  regulations  of  the  village  communes, 
the  nagging  of  constant  police  surveillance,  and  —  above 
all  —  the  growing  conviction  of  so  many  Russians  that 
"the  nearer  the  Tsar,  the  greater  the  danger." 

Previous  to  the  manumission  of  the  serfs  in  1861,  there 
was  a  constant  stream  of  fugitives  of  this  class  escaping 
from  Russia  and  making  their  way  by  "the  underground 
railway"  into  Siberia.  This  was  much  the  same  as  the 
efforts  of  negro  slaves  to  escape  from  their  Southern 
masters  and  reach  a  place  of  freedom  and  safety  in  the 
Northern  States  or  in  Canada.  Conditions  in  the  two 
countries  being  borne  in  mind,  many  of  these  runaway 
Russian  serfs  found  people  all  along  the  line  and  in 
Siberia,  as  ready  to  help  them  as  did  the  fugitive  slaves 
in  America  prior  to  186 1.  Yet,  when  we  recall  the 
reputation  for  vigilance  that  the  Russian  police  have, 
and  the  difficulty  for  even  a  native  to  move  from  place  to 
place  without  official  permission,  it  is  surprising  to  learn 
that  thousands  of  serfs  did  manage  to  escape  and  to  hide 
themselves  in  Siberia. 

But  the  most  potent  reasons  for  Russians  who  could 
do  so  to  seek  escape  from  European  Russia  and  become 


COLONISATION  155 

free  colonists  in  Siberia,  were  the  religious  persecutions 
during  the  seventeenth,  eighteenth,  and  the  first  part 
of  the  nineteenth  centuries.  I  have  already  alluded  to 
some  of  these  voluntary  religious  exiles  and  I  shall 
speak  of  them  again ;  but  the  student  of  Russian  history 
will  find  that  the  topic  of  religious  movement  in  that 
country  is  too  important  to  be  treated  at  all  satisfactorily 
in  a  chapter  or  two. 

Forced  colonisation  was  made  up,  speaking  in  rather 
general  terms,  of  deserters  from  the  army  and  those  who 
sought  to  evade  the  conscription,  but  were  caught  before 
they  could  successfully  hide  themselves,  either  in  Euro- 
pean Russia  or  Siberia,  or  get  across  the  frontier  into 
some  other  European  country.  Those  who  had  com- 
mitted an  assault  with  intent  to  kill,  but  had  failed 
actually  to  commit  murder,  were  sent  to  Siberia  as 
forced  colonists.  So,  too,  were  the  vagrants,  if  for  any 
reason  they  were  unfit  for  military  service,  or  if  landed 
proprietors  and  their  own  village  community  refused  to 
take  charge  of  them. 

Some  of  those  early  settlers  took  wives  from  among 
the  native  women  and  reared  families.  This  still  con- 
tinues to  be  done,  in  a  small  way,  but  the  number  of 
these  mixed  marriages  —  and  of  cases  of  illicit  inter- 
course, too  —  is  surprisingly  small.  It  is  declared  by 
competent  authorities  to  have  been  of  much  less  frequent 
occurrence  than  were  the  intermarriages  of  French 
settlers  with  the  North  American  Indian  women.  From 
the  very  beginning  of  the  movement  towards  Siberian 
colonisation,  the  Russian  women  have  shown  a  beautiful 
devotion  in  their  readiness  to  follow  husband  or  lover 
into  Siberia,  whether  the  man  went  as  free  colonist, 
forced  colonist,  exile,  or  convict. 


156      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

The  children  born  of  mixed  parentage,  that  is,  a 
Russian  father  and  a  native  mother  —  for  until  in  very 
recent  years  such  a  thing  as  a  marriage  between  a 
Russian  woman  and  a  native  man,  was  never  heard  of 
and  is  now  extremely  rare  —  these  descendants  are  still 
called  Siberiaks,  and  are  readily  distinguished  from  the 
true  Russians  and  their  offspring.  They  are  not  so 
numerous  as  one  might  be  led  to  expect,  except  in 
Western  Siberia,  where  the  men  are  very  good  specimens 
of  humanity.  They  are  of  average  height,  square  build, 
strong  in  body,  and  usually  have  brown  hair.  The 
women  display  traits  quite  different  from  the  Russian 
peasant  women.  They  are  relatively  smaller  than  the 
men,  and  show  more  of  the  coarse,  Asiatic  type  of 
features.  They  are  unusually  taciturn  and  rarely  show 
any  of  the  Russian  simplicity  and  frankness.  As  a  rule, 
throughout  the  entire  country,  the  Siberiak  speaks  the 
native  dialect,  but  always  more  or  less  corrupted.  This 
is  especially  noticeable  in  Western  Siberia,  where  there 
are  many  survivals  of  the  Turanian,  Ural-Altaic,  tongue. 

The  free  colonists  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
the  Siberiaks,  who  approximate  most  closely  to  them  in 
independence,  as  well  as  from  the  other  classes  of  Russian 
immigrants.  The  Government  is  careful  and  considerate 
in  designating  localities  for  the  settlements  of  these  free 
colonists;  trying  to  shield  them  from  the  contaminating 
influences  of  penal  colonies,  villages  where  there  are 
many  forced  colonists,  and  all  objectionable  surroundings, 
whether  physical  or  social.  The  free  colonists  live  very 
much  as  do  their  fellows  in  European  Russia,  and  they 
occupy  themselves  in  much  the  same  way;  so  that  the 
appearance  of  their  village  and  its  surroundings  is  quite 
like   that  of  the  homeland.     The   Russian,   even  the 


Church  of  St.   Basil,   Moscow 


COLONISATION  157 

woman,  is  not  so  prone  to  nostalgia  as  is  the  German, 
French,  or  Anglo-Saxon;  consequently,  the  indications 
of  contentment  are  distinct.  There  have  been  known, 
however,  such  intense  longings  for  home  that  the  family 
has  gone  back  to  Europe ;  and  —  I  was  told  —  usually 
regretted  it. 

The  Russian  Government  is  entitled  to  more  credit 
than  is  generally  accorded  it  for  humanitarianism, 
because  of  the  way  it  looks  after  the  free  colonists  while 
en  route.  Not  only  at  Cheliabinsk,  as  has  been  said, 
but  at  Kansk  (about  midway  between  Omsk  and  Tomsk) 
and  at  Stryetensk  (on  the  Shilka  River,  the  place  where 
the  Amur  navigation  begins),  there  are  quarters  supplied 
for  their  temporary  accommodation.  These  have  kitchens, 
fuel,  and  an  unlimited  supply  of  hot  water  gratis;  and 
there  are  also  hospitals  with  free  medical  attendance 
and  volunteer  nurses.  The  few  who  arrive  in  winter 
are  often  sheltered  and  looked  after  for  a  long  time,  on 
account  of  bad  weather. 

The  railway  has  virtually  supplanted  all  other  modes 
of  travel  for  these  immigrants.  Fourth-class  wagons 
(" box-cars,"  to  convert  the  Russian  va-gon  into  good 
American  terminology!)  are  furnished  for  these  settlers 
at  very  reasonable  rates,  and  a  few  roubles  will  pay  for 
a  whole  wagon  from  Cheliabinsk  to  Stryetensk.  The 
Russian  soldiers  are  carried  in  these  cars,  and  they  are 
fitted  with  open  bunks,  very  much  like  the  steerage  of  an 
emigrant  steamer,  so  that  when  the  settlers  have  their 
own  bedding,  they  are  not  at  all  uncomfortable.  Boil- 
ing water  is  furnished  at  every  station,  so  that  the  tea 
can  always  be  drawn,  and  if  the  colonist  is  indisposed 
or  pecuniarily  unable  to  purchase  cooked  food,  he  can 
make  his  soup  at  leisure. 


158      RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

The  ease  with  which  the  journey  is  now  made  is  a 
strong  inducement  to  even  steady  peasant  farmers  to 
try  their  luck  in  the  new  country,  and  if  the  purse  be- 
comes empty  the  officials  help  the  immigrants  on,  when 
they  do  not  insist  upon  going  "home."  Besides,  the 
Government  grants  about  forty  acres  of  land  to  each 
male  colonist,  and  advances,  if  necessary,  thirty  roubles 
for  a  family.  The  money  pays  no  interest,  and  in 
specially  deserving  cases  the  loan  is  increased  by  one 
hundred  roubles  more.  It  is  agreed  by  the  benefited 
colonist  that  this  loan  will  be  repaid  within  ten  years; 
but  he  is  not  pressed  for  it,  and  I  doubt  if  the  Treasury 
often  sees  again  much  of  this  money. 

One  very  objectionable  phase  of  the  existing  plan  for 
colonising  Siberia,  is  that  the  settler  is  not  at  once  fixed 
as  to  locality.  The  early  comers  were  too  much  inclined 
to  be  satisfied  with  " squatter's  rights."  The  land  had 
not  been  surveyed,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  define 
the  forty  acres  allotted  to  the  man.  Consequently,  he 
took  possession  of  the  best  he  could  find  and  as  much  as 
he  could  cultivate,  together  with  a  liberal  amount  of 
land  for  his  stock.  Not  being  definitely  located  by 
metes  and  bounds,  when  he  had  exhausted  the  soil  on 
his  first  claim,  he  moved  on  to  another,  without  having 
made  any  permanent  improvements.  These  would 
have  been  a  hindrance  rather  than  an  advantage. 

"But  as  the  settlements  have  increased,  the  condition 
of  things  has  more  and  more  approximated  to  that  in 
Russia.  Whereas  at  first  the  commune  did  not  need 
to  apportion  out  the  land  to  each  family,  because  there 
was  a  superabundance  for  all,  as  time  went  on  they  have 
been  compelled  to  limit  the  individual  members  to 
special  lots,  as  is  done  in  the  mother  country.     For  the 


COLONISATION  159 

most  part,  however,  the  communal  system  is  adopted 
and  the  land  titles  are  held  in  the  name  of  the  commune. 
But  even  yet,  the  forests  are  so  abundant  and  the  pasture 
grounds  so  large,  that  the  restrictions  of  use  relate  for 
the  most  part  to  the  meadows  and  the  lands  which  are 
more  desirable  for  cultivation."  * 

The  matter  of  land  tenure  is  something  which  has  not 
yet  been  satisfactorily  settled  for  Siberia,  and  it  promises 
to  be  a  source  of  friction.  It  may  even  exert  a  bad 
influence  on  the  Government's  effort  to  popularise 
emigration.  Russian  land  tenure  is  a  most  complicated 
and  most  interesting  subject.  I  do  not  profess  to  have 
grasped  it  fully,  and  when  I  find  all  the  recognised 
authorities  " begging"  it,  this  confession  does  not  bring 
a  blush  of  shame. 

An  idea  of  the  complication  and  a  basis  to  build  upon 
in  forecasting  what  may  happen  in  the  Siberia  of  to- 
morrow may  be  had  from  this  extract  from  the  last 
edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica:  "The  present 
condition  of  the  peasants  —  according  to  official  docu- 
ments —  appears  to  be  as  follows :  In  the  twelve  central 
governments  they  grow,  on  the  average,  sufficient  rye 
bread  for  only  200  days  in  the  year  —  often  for  only 
180  and  100  days.  One  quarter  of  them  have  received 
allotments  of  only  2.9  acres  per  male,  and  one  half  less 
than  8.5  to  1 1. 4  acres  —  the  normal  size  of  the  allotment 
necessary  to  the  subsistence  of  a  family  under  the  three- 
fields  system  being  estimated  at  28  to  42  acres.  Land 
must  thus,  of  necessity,  be  rented  from  the  landlords  at 
fabulous  prices.  The  aggregate  value  of  the  redemption 
and  land  taxes  often  reaches  185  to  275  per  cent,  of  the 
normal  rental  value  of  the  allotments,  not  to  speak  of 

*  Wright,  op.  cit. 


l6o      RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE    AND     ASIA 

taxes  for  recruiting  purposes,  the  church,  roads,  local 
administration,  and  so  on,  chiefly  levied  from  the  peas- 
ants. The  arrears  increase  every  year:  one  fifth  of  the 
inhabitants  have  left  their  houses;  cattle  are  disappear- 
ing. Every  year  more  than  half  the  adult  males  (in 
some  districts  three  fourths  of  the  men  and  one  third  of 
the  women)  quit  their  homes  and  wander  throughout 
Russia  in  search  of  work.  In  the  governments  of  the 
black-earth  region  the  state  of  matters  is  hardly  better. 
Many  peasants  took  the  'gratuitous  allotments,'  whose 
amount  was  about  one  eighth  of  the  normal  allotment." 

It  will  be  easy  to  comprehend  from  this  and  much 
more  of  the  same  character,  that  the  Government  has 
little  difficulty  in  drafting  off  free  colonists  into  Siberia. 
Now,  while  there  are  no  great  landed  proprietors  as  yet 
in  Russia's  Asiatic  possessions,  so  that  there  may  be 
little  danger  of  a  state  of  affairs  precisely  the  same  as 
that  which  I  have  just  indicated,  the  tendency  to  over- 
burden the  peasant  is  too  truly  a  Russian  official  char- 
acteristic to  be  overlooked.  The  strict  defining  of  the 
mir,  the  village  community,  is  a  good  thing  in  its  way; 
but  it  too  often  happens  that  such  a  system  throws  upon 
the  shoulders  of  the  few  honest,  hard-working  citizens, 
the  burden  that  the  shiftless  will  not  carry. 

A  liberal  allowance  for  the  whole  Russian  Empire,  say 
8,647,657  square  miles,  concedes  that  20  per  cent,  of  it  is 
satisfactory  arable  land.  The  total  population  is,  approxi- 
mately, 160,095,200,  or  93  to  the  square  mile  of  that  culti- 
vable land.  Of  Siberia's  total  area,  4,786,730,  probably 
i6|  per  cent.,  is  a  liberal  allowance  for  the  truly  arable 
land,  or  say  800,000  square  miles.  The  population  is  now 
about  8,000,000,  only  ten  to  each  of  those  square  miles  of 
good  land.     There  is  yet  a  very  ample  margin  for  growth. 


CHAPTER  XII 
EXILES  AND  CONVICTS 

IN  making  a  distinction  between  the  two  classes  of 
those  who  have  been  forced  to  go  to  Siberia  by  the 
Russian  Government,  it  is  found  that  the  exiles  take 
precedence  in  history.  The  first  mention  in  Russian 
annals  of  this  punishment  is  given  in  the  time  of  Tsar 
Alexis,  who  succeeded  his  father,  Tsar  Michael,  in  1645. 
Three  years  later,  it  is  recorded,  certain  persons  were 
carried  across  the  border  by  soldiers  and  compelled  to 
live  in  Siberia.  But  this  was  not  considered  in  itself  as 
punishment,  for  they  had  already  been  actually  punished 
according  to  the  terms  of  their  sentences.  It  was  done 
merely  to  get  them  out  of  the  way,  so  that  neither  they 
nor  their  friends  should  give  further  trouble. 

The  old  Russian  criminal  code,  with  other  preceding 
codes  of  the  time  of  Ivan  III  and  Ivan  IV  (The  Terrible), 
was  revised  by  a  commission  of  ecclesiastics  and  laymen 
appointed  by  Alexis  soon  after  his  coronation,  although 
the  work  was  chiefly  done  by  Prince  Odoievski  and  Prince 
Volkonski.  The  present  criminal  code  is  not  conspicu- 
ous for  tender  treatment  of  malefactors,  but  it  is  much 
better  even  than  was  Alexis'  amended  code.  That  old 
one  is  said  to  be  preserved  yet  in  the  Oruzhennaia  Palata 
of  Moscow  (I  doubt  it),  and  it  must  have  been  positively 
barbarous  in  its  provisions  for  the  punishment  of  evil- 
doers. 


162      RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Convicted  criminals  were  impaled  on  sharp  stakes; 
sometimes  they  were  thrown  from  a  wall  and  caught  on 
the  uplifted  spears  of  soldiers  massed  below.  Hundreds 
of  unfortunates  were  hanged  or  beheaded  for  misde- 
meanours that  we  could  not  now  by  any  possibility 
call  crimes  meriting  capital  punishment.  The  knout 
and  bastinado  were  used  continually.  Red-hot  branding 
irons  were  employed  in  cases  when  the  provocation  had 
been  but  slight.  Some  were  horribly  mutilated  by 
having  their  limbs  torn  off  or  chopped  off.  Tongues 
and  noses  were  cut  off,  while  as  for  lopping  off  an  ear, 
or  both  of  them,  that  was  of  such  frequent  occurrence 
as  scarcely  to  be  deemed  worthy  of  mention. 

One  of  the  most  brutal  punishments,  something  that 
makes  one  almost  sick  merely  to  read  of  it,  was  to  sus- 
pend the  victim  by  hooks  inserted  under  a  rib,  one  on 
each  side,  and  leave  him  to  die  of  starvation;  unless, 
perchance,  the  fowl  of  the  air  came  to  his  relief  and 
pecked  out  his  eyes,  thus  reaching  the  brain,  or  attacked 
him  in  some  other  vital  spot. 

Towards  the  end  of  that  same  seventeenth  century, 
punishment  by  bodily  mutilation  was  abolished  by  an 
imperial  decree  and  for  it  was  substituted  banishment 
to  Siberia.  The  criminal,  although  he  could  rarely  be 
called  such  in  reality,  was  accompanied  into  exile  by 
his  entire  family.  This  was  not  done  from  humane 
motives,  but  because  of  a  desire  to  give  the  new  country 
a  Russian  population  and  to  colonise  it. 

I  mention  here  that  capital  punishment  was  abolished 
in  European  Russia  in  1750,  by  command  of  Tsarina 
Elizabeth.  It  was  later  permitted  again,  and  has  been 
freely  inflicted.  At  present  the  death  penalty  is  ex- 
acted   only    when    the    life   of  the    Tsar,  Tsarina,   or 


EXILES     AND     CONVICTS  163 

Tsarovitch  is  concerned.  Capital  punishment  is  still 
permitted  in  certain  parts  of  Siberia  even  when  a 
civilian's  life  is  taken. 

Some  of  the  earliest  exiles  were  driven  from  home  for 
having  committed  what  were  then  called  crimes,  but 
which  seem  to  us  now  to  be  not  even  trifling  offences: 
for  example,  taking  snuff,  or  driving  with  reins.  The 
last  was  for  a  long  time  looked  upon  as  a  most  offensive 
Western  innovation,  because  the  ideal  coachman  or 
driver  was  supposed  to  run  by  the  side  of  his  team. 
This  was,  of  course,  long  before  Peter  the  Great  tried  to 
civilise  his  subjects  by  popularising  Western  Europe's 
manners  and  customs.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  punish- 
ment for  having  the  snuff  habit  could  not  have  continued 
very  long,  else  the  whole  of  the  middle  and  upper  classes, 
as  well  as  the  nobility,  would  have  been  driven  from 
European  Russia,  because,  in  the  time  of  Peter  the 
Great,  the  almost  universal  possession  of  snuff-boxes  by 
the  Russian  men  (and  many  women,  too)  argues  that 
the  habit  had  become  popular  and  that  punishment 
had  been  suspended. 

It  is  an  extremely  difficult  matter  to  form  an  opinion 
of  just  what  are  the  conditions  at  the  penal  settlements 
and  convict  prisons  of  Siberia.  Those  foreigners  who 
have  made  a  careful  study  and  who  seem  to  have  had 
ample  and  equal  opportunities  given  them  for  investiga- 
tion, differ  so  diametrically  in  their  opinions,  and  are 
so  much  at  variance  in  their  statements,  that  the  in- 
terested reader  is  sorely  puzzled,  while  the  statements 
of  Russians  themselves  are  equally  conflicting.  Per- 
sonally, I  made  no  study  of  the  subject.  I  visited  none 
of  the  Siberian  prisons.  I  saw  the  outside  only  of  some 
in  Europe:    e.g.,  The  Citadel,  St.  Petersburg.     I  saw 


164       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

plenty  of  convicts  working  as  railway  navvies,  and 
elsewhere  in  Siberia;  but  I  was  not  able  to  talk  with  any 
of  them.  The  second-hand  information  which  I  secured, 
and  it  was  considerable,  did  not  come  from  anyone 
who  had  actually  had  personal  experience;  yet  even 
the  relatives  of  those  who  had  suffered  spoke  more 
bitterly  against  the  system  of  breaking  up  families  than 
against  the  cruelties  inflicted  when  the  prisoners  had 
reached  their  destination. 

Mr.  George  Kennan  in  the  preface  to  his  "  Siberia  and 
the  Exile  System  "  (1891),  which  is  generally  considered 
by  Americans  the  final  word  on  this  subject,  admits 
tacitly  that  he  went  to  Siberia  predetermined  to  find 
absolutely  nothing  but  brutality  in  the  treatment  of 
both  political  exiles  and  condemned  criminals,  and  the 
physical  and  sanitary  conditions  of  their  abiding  place 
never  anything  but  revolting.  He,  therefore,  speaks  as 
an  advocate,  not  as  a  judge.  With  this  bias,  he  naturally 
drew  a  picture  in  which  not  a  single  ray  of  light  penetrates 
the  awful  darkness. 

But  on  the  other  side,  Mr.  H.  De  Windt,  an  English- 
man, who  seems  to  have  had  quite  as  good  opportunities 
to  investigate  as  were  accorded  Mr.  Kennan,  takes  issue 
with  the  latter  and  declares  that  many  of  his  statements 
are  not  justified  by  facts.  He,  too,  is  an  advocate  rather 
than  a  judge.  Both  drew  freely  upon  such  Russian 
statistics  as  were  available,  and  both  found  in  published 
documents  and  reports  confirmation  of  their  widely 
different  positions.  Now,  it  must  strike  the  unprejudiced 
reader  that  if  conditions  in  Siberia  were  really  as  bad  as 
Mr.  Kennan  represents,  and  if  they  were  so  much  worse 
than  anything  which  exists  in  other  parts  of  the  world, 
the  Russian  Government,  with  its  exceptional  facilities 


EXILES     AND     CONVICTS  165 

for  doing  such  a  thing,  would  have  suppressed  such 
information.  Yet  it  certainly  has  published  some  in- 
teresting statistics  of  the  Siberian  convict  and  exile  life ; 
and  it  has  permitted  strangers  to  have  free  access  to 
places  which  Mr.  Kennan  declares  were  a  disgrace  to 
Russian  civilisation.  Many  other  foreigners  besides 
these  two  gentlemen  have  visited  the  penal  settlements 
and  convict  prisons  of  Siberia,  from  the  European  frontier 
eastward  into  the  island  of  Saghalien,  which  was,  ad- 
mittedly, the  worst  place  of  all.  Others,  too,  have  had 
opportunity  to  study  the  problem. 

Mr.  Augustus  J.  C.  Hare  does  not  usually  speak  any 
too  highly  in  praise  of  Russian  manners  and  customs, 
although  I  have  generally  found  his  descriptions  to  be 
accurate.  Writing  in  1885,  he  said:  "Russian  exiles 
condemned  to  Siberia  are  always  assembled  at  Moscow. 
Their  prisons  on  the  Sparrow  Hills  are  lofty,  airy,  and 
warm  in  winter,  and  their  food  is  good.  They  set  out 
from  hence  in  bands  every  Sunday  afternoon,  thus  taking 
their  leave  here  in  a  last  view  of  their  'holy  mother 
Moscow,'  a  place  whose  hold  upon  Russian  sentiment  it 
is  considered  impossible  for  a  foreigner  to  fathom. 
They  journey  from  eight  to  twelve  miles  a  day,  and  have 
regular  sleeping  places.  They  carry  chains  of  only  four 
pounds'  weight  upon  their  hands  and  feet  on  their 
march;  but  patriots,  murderers,  thieves,  and  conspira- 
tors are  all  chained  together.  Formerly,  about  sixty 
thousand  exiles  to  Siberia  passed  through  Kazan;  now 
the  number  is  perhaps  ten  thousand.  About  15  per  cent, 
still  probably  die  on  the  road,  but  formerly  only  a  third 
reached  their  destination.  If  a  prisoner,  however,  is  well 
off  and  can  pay  for  it,  he  may  often  travel  at  his  own 
expense  and  take  his  family  and  any  amount  of  luggage 


l66      RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

with  him,  but  in  this  case  he  must  always  pay  for  his 
guards,  who  are  never  less  than  five  in  number.  Legally, 
a  Siberian  exile  is  dead,  and  his  wife,  if  she  does  not  wish 
to  accompany  him,  may  marry  again.  The  exiles  are 
allowed  to  talk  to  one  another  on  their  journey  and  even 
to  sing  their  sad,  wailing  choruses.  It  is  generally 
arranged  that  they  should  pass  through  the  towns  at 
night,  but  universal  pity  is  felt  for  them,  and  in  the 
villages  which  lie  on  their  way,  the  kind-hearted  peasan- 
try bring  out  bowls  of  tea,  jugs  of  vodka,  and  piles  of 
bread  for  them;  all  this  is  done  in  silence,  for  no  one 
may  speak  to  a  prisoner."  Conditions  are,  of  course, 
entirely  changed  since  the  opening  of  the  trans-Siberian 
Railway,  so  far  as  the  method  of  travel  is  concerned, 
and  convict  trains  were  not  essentially  worse  than  emi- 
grant and  colonists'  trains  in  America.  In  other  matters 
Mr.  Hare's  account  is  apposite  now. 

Again,  when  we  read  books  written  by  Russians  and 
translated  into  English,  French,  or  German,  we  are 
struck  by  the  diametric  contradictions.  Prince  Kropot- 
kin's  writings  would  lead  us  to  assume  that  there  is 
absolutely  nothing  but  brutality  and  abomination  in 
every  prison  and  convict  colony;  while  conditions 
among  the  forced  colonists  who  are  not  actually  in  con- 
finement are  as  bad  as  they  can  possibly  be.  But  when 
we  turn  to  such  books  as  " Buried  Alive;  or  Ten  Years 
of  Penal  Servitude  in  Siberia,"  Feodore  Dostoyeffsky, 
or  " Russia  and  Its  Crisis,"  Paul  Milyoukov,  we  are  led 
to  somewhat  different  conclusions.  Yet  the  confusion 
of  our  minds  persists. 

We  are  compelled  to  admit  that  the  evidence  of  some 
who  have  actually  suffered  goes  to  show  that  the  treat- 
ment of  "the  unfortunates"  in  Siberia  is  not  much  worse 


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EXILES     AND     CONVICTS  167 

than  is  that  given  to  prisoners  in  other  lands.  I  hold 
no  brief  for  Russia,  and  I  am  as  ready  as  anyone  can  be 
to  condemn  her  treatment  of  mere  political  offenders 
and  others  whose  only  offence  is  dissatisfaction  because 
promises  have  been  broken  and  class  discrimination 
carried  to  an  extreme.  When  it  comes  to  considering 
anarchical  plans  and  plots,  I  hold  with  many  others  that 
monarchical  Russia  is  sovereign  in  determining  how 
such  offenders  shall  be  treated;  but  the  laws  of  humanity 
should  prevail  and  woman's  weakness  and  honour  should 
be  respected  always.  It  is  as  bad  when  Orthodox 
Russia  tramples  those  laws  under  foot  and  when  Russian 
prison  officials  disregard  that  weakness  and  honour,  as  it 
is  when  the  same  things  happen  (and  they  have  occurred 
too  frequently)  in  any  other  Christian  land;  and  it  is 
worse  than  when  such  inhuman  actions  take  place  in 
Mohammedan  lands  or  heathen  countries. 

I  shall  not  burden  my  readers  by  repeating  what  Mr. 
Wright  tells  us  of  conditions  in  certain  prisons  of  our 
own  land,  although  I  do  say  that  before  Russia  is  con- 
demned ruthlessly,  it  would  be  well  to  read  pages  332  to 
336  of  his  book.  But  while  I  am  writing  this  chapter, 
I  extract  from  a  despatch,  dated  London,  March  16, 191 2, 
the  following  relating  to  Portuguese  prisons  wherein 
political  offenders  are  confined:  " Although  the  Republi- 
cans deny  that  their  methods  of  repression  exceed  per- 
missible bounds,  impartial  investigations  tend  to  show 
that  the  condition  of  affairs  existing  in  Portugal  in  this 
respect  is  more  reminiscent  of  the  dark  ages  than  is 
creditable  to  republican  institutions  based  on  principles 
of  liberalism  and  justice.  The  casemates  in  which  these 
unfortunate  persons  have  been  kept  in  secret  confine- 
ment for  over  six  weeks  have  but  one  small  loophole  for 


l68      RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

light,  and  even  in  the  middle  of  the  day  it  is  too  dark  for 
either  reading  or  writing.  To  breathe  freely  the  pris- 
oners must  crowd  about  the  single  aperture  to  their 
cells.  The  only  furniture  is  a  bed,  with  a  mattress  of 
rotting  straw.  In  wet  weather  the  water  runs  down 
the  walls,  sometimes  leaving  as  much  as  nearly  two  inches 
of  water  under  the  beds."  In  Limoeiro  prison  dungeons, 
"more  than  a  hundred  persons  are  lodged  together  in 
shameful  proximity,  respectable  men  being  thrust 
together  with  the  vilest  criminals.  .  .  .  Among  the 
wardens  the  greatest  cruelty  is  practised  on  all  those 
who  cannot  purchase  considerate  treatment.  More 
than  thirteen  hundred  miserable  creatures  are  herded  in  a 
prison  built  for  no  more  than  four  hundred."  I  have  not 
read  anything  worse  than  that,  or  so  bad,  of  any  Siberian 
prison,  not  even  in  Mr.  Kennan's  book;  that  is,  of  mere 
political  prisoners,  not  accused  of  murderous  act  or  plot. 

I  have  always  been  surprised  that  Wallace,*  when  he 
wrote  in  1877,  had  really  nothing  to  say  about  the  horrors 
of  the  exile  and  convict  systems,  if  they  really  were  so 
bad  as  some  contend.  Wallace's  book,  as  an  exponent 
of  conditions  in  Russia  half  a  century  ago,  still  holds  a 
place  of  much  importance  in  the  literature  dealing  with 
the  same  topic.  As  a  Briton,  he  could  not  but  condemn 
the  way  in  which  the  governors  treated  the  governed. 
Yet  as  an  upholder  of  constituted  authority,  he  could 
but  recognise  "  sovereign  rights,"  much  as  he  deplored 
the  absence  of  nearly  all  the  privileges  to  which  he  had 
been  accustomed  throughout  his  entire  life. 

Wallace  quotes  Russians  as  denying  that  there  has 
ever  been  or  is  now,  such  a  thing  as  caste  distinction; 
and  he  is  measurably  correct  when  he  says  that  an  edu- 

*  Russia,  by  D.  Mackenzie  Wallace. 


EXILES     AND     CONVICTS  169 

cated  Russian  would  (even  now)  declare  that  the  laws 
and  statistics  dealing  with  seven  distinct  classes,  heredi- 
tary nobles,  personal  nobles,  clericals,  townspeople, 
peasants,  military,  and  foreigners,  do  not  prove  the 
existence  of  caste,  and  that  the  classes  therein  mentioned 
are  mere  administrative  fictions.  Yet  it  has  been  almost 
solely  due  to  the  effort  to  uplift  one  of  those  classes, 
that  the  existing  conditions  of  political  exile,  resistance 
to  oppression,  etc.,  have  come  to  be. 

His  forecast  has  been  most  depressingly  verified  in 
late  years:  "The  confident  anticipation  of  many  Rus- 
sians, that  their  country  will  one  day  enjoy  political  life 
without  political  parties,  is,  if  not  a  contradiction  in 
terms,  at  least  a  Utopian  absurdity;  but  we  may  be  sure 
that  when  political  parties  do  appear  they  will  be  very 
different  from  those  which  exist  in  the  countries  with 
which  we  are  better  acquainted." 

Baron  von  Haxthausen,  the  eminent  German,  wrote 
his  "The  Russian  Empire:  its  People,  Institutions,  and 
Resources"  in  1856.  This  was  the  first  book  which 
revealed  to  people  outside  of  Russia  the  real  social 
condition  of  that  country.  It  was  promptly  translated 
into  English,  and  inasmuch  as  it  was  written  just  at  the 
time  when  the  Russian  Government  was  most  actively 
engaged  in  sending  political  exiles  (not  the  recent  Nihilist 
and  Anarchist)  to  Siberia,  we  should  naturally  expect 
the  author  to  condemn,  if  it  were  right  to  do  so.  Yet  he 
says:  "The  condition  of  Siberian  convicts,  when  arrived 
and  settled  in  the  country,  is  certainly  favourable.  The 
severity  of  their  punishment  consists  in  the  loss  of  home, 
the  disruption  of  early  family  ties,  and  the  dangers  and 
difficulties  of  the  long  journey. 

"In  Siberia,  the  ancient,  simple,  and  noble  patriarchal 


170      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

manners  still  prevail,  and  in  this  respect  it  is  still  the 
veritable  old  Russia  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term  —  there 
is  the  greatest  hospitality  and  good-will. 

"  The  convicts  sent  out  as  colonists  are  mostly  trans- 
ported to  the  districts  of  Southern  Siberia,  which  are 
described  by  all  who  have  seen  them  as  truly  paradisiacal. 
The  country  is  romantically  beautiful,  the  soil  incredibly 
fertile,  and  the  climate  healthy;  the  cold,  indeed,  is 
severe  in  winter,  but  with  a  perpetually  clear  sky;  and 
nowhere  are  there  so  many  vigorous  old  people.  The 
peasants,  descended  from  the  early  convicts,  are  all 
well  off,  some  of  them  very  rich;  they  only  require 
industry,  good  behaviour,  and  exertion  for  a  few  years 
to  acquire  a  substantial  position.  Their  whole  outward 
condition  is  from  the  first  favourable:  as  soon  as  they 
arrive  in  Siberia,  their  past  life  not  only  lies  like  a  dream 
behind  them,  but  is  legally  and  politically  completely  at 
an  end;  their  crime  is  forgotten;  no  one  dares  to  remind 
them  of  it,  or  to  term  them  convicts ;  both  in  the  public 
official  reports  and  in  conversation  they  are  termed  only 
'The  unfortunate. '" 

It  must  be  noted  that  conditions  in  Europe  for  the 
last  few  decades  have  been  and  are  yet  quite  different 
from  what  they  were  one  hundred  years  ago  when  Clarke* 
wrote  thus:  "In  England,  we  hear  of  persons  sent  to 
Siberia  as  a  very  severe  punishment,  and  entertain  very 
erroneous  notions  concerning  the  state  of  exiles  in  that 
country.  To  a  Russian  nobleman,  the  sentence  of  exile 
can  hardly  imply  punishment.  The  consequence  of 
their  journey  is  very  often  an  amelioration  of  their 
understanding  and  their  hearts.     They  have  no  particular 

*"  Travels  in  various  countries  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa."  By 
Edward  Daniel  Clarke.     Philadelphia,,  181 1. 


EXILES     AND     CONVICTS  171 

attachment  to  their  country;  none  of  that  maladie  du 
pays,  which  sickens  the  soul  of  an  Englishman  in  banish- 
ment. They  are  bound  by  no  strong  ties  of  affection 
to  their  families ;  neither  have  they  any  friendship  worth 
preserving.  Tobolski,  from  the  number  and  rank  of  the 
exiled,  is  become  a  large  and  populous  city,  full  of  shops 
and  society,  with  theatres  and  elegant  assemblies  of 
amusement.  Its  inhabitants,  about  two  thousand  versts 
from  Moscow,  have  booksellers,  masquerades,  French 
hotels  and  French  wines,  with  the  porter  and  beer  of 
England.  Those  who  have  resided  there,  either  as 
officers  on  duty,  as  travellers,  or  as  exiles,  give  the 
highest  accounts  of  its  gaiety  and  population.  An 
officer  of  considerable  rank  in  the  Russian  service  told 
me  he  would  rather  have  the  half  of  his  pay  and  live  at 
Tobolski,  than  the  whole  of  it  in  residence  at  Petersburg. 
Many  who  have  been  ordered  home  have  wished  and 
sought  to  return  thither.  This  is  no  subject  of  wonder. 
Tobolski  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  Russian  taste." 

He  who  would  have  twentieth  century  confirmation  of 
this  optimistic  view  of  Siberian  exile,  will  find  it  in  a 
great  many  more  books  than  those  to  which  I  have 
referred.  Mr.  Henry  Norman,*  as  he  says  of  himself,  is 
not  a  child  in  such  matters  as  seeing  what  is  and  in  de- 
tecting that  which  is  rehearsed  for  his  benefit,  to  bring 
the  best  in  evidence  while  suppressing  all  that  is  offensive 
or  bad.  With  all  of  us,  he  admits  that  the  exile-convict 
system  has  its  terrible  side,  but  so  has  every  such  system 
the  world  over.  The  doleful,  the  disgusting  (at  times) 
photographs  which  are  given  by  those  who  are  Russo- 
phobists  can  be  matched  in  every  civilised  land  on  earth. 
Russian  officials  are  sometimes  well  informed  as  to  what 

*  "All  the  Russias."     By  Henry  Norman,  M.  P.,  New  York,  1902. 


172      RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

is  going  on  in  other  countries  than  their  own,  and  what 
other  people  think  of  them.  Had  conditions  in  Siberian 
prisons  and  convict  settlements  been  unique,  we  may  be 
sure  that  the  authorities  would  never  have  granted  Mr. 
Kennan  permission  to  take  the  photographs  from  which 
his  depressing  illustrations  were  reproduced. 

Yet,  after  all,  history  as  it  was  made  in  the  Australian 
penal  colonies,  is  simply  repeating  itself  in  Siberia,  and 
if  ever  that  country  is  to  start  fairly  on  a  pathway  which 
leads  to  true  and  satisfactory  development,  Russia  must 
follow  Great  Britain's  example  in  doing  away  with  the 
system  of  transportation  for  crime  absolutely  and  wholly. 
I  do  not  include  in  this  statement  the  banishment  or 
exile  of  political  offenders,  when  an  anarchical  attempt 
(successful  or  not)  is  proved.  I  think,  as  I  shall  proceed 
forthwith  to  show,  that  Siberia  has  gained  and  European 
Russia  lost  much  by  the  exile  of  many  of  those  political 
offenders. 

In  a  previous  chapter  I  have  mentioned  briefly  the 
obligation  we  are  under  to  some  of  the  political  exiles  for 
ethnological  research.  But  that  is  not  our  only  debt  to 
those  men  and  women.  In  every  department  of  science, 
from  the  record  of  strange  words  crooned  by  a  Samoyede 
or  Chukchee  mother  to  her  baby  and  the  noting  of  the 
tune,  to  some  of  the  most  complex  astronomical  problems, 
it  has  been  almost  solely  the  exile  who  has  given  the  time 
to  research  that  has  either  been  exhaustive,  or  indicative 
for  the  more  thoroughly  equipped  and  educated  specialist. 

Strange  as  it  must  seem,  many  of  these  political 
exiles  —  even  some  who  have  been  convicted  upon  fair 
and  lawful  trial  of  criminal  acts,  bomb-throwing,  and 
the  like  —  are  making  the  best  of  Christian  mission- 
aries.    They  have  been  accompanied  by  their  wives, 


EXILES     AND     CONVICTS  173 

or  followed  by  them ;  by  good  conduct  while  in  prison 
they  shortened  the  term  and  gained  the  right  of  semi- 
free  residence.  As  expounders  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Orthodox  Greek  Catholic  Church,  and  as  language 
teachers  they  are  doing  remarkable  work  along  the  best 
paths  of  Christian  civilisation.  But  how  shall  I  ex- 
press the  thought  of  religious  influence  in  Russia? 
Shall  I  say  the  Church  is  the  people,  or  the  people  are 
the  Church? 

I  make  one  exception  to  the  general  disapproval  I 
have  expressed  or  implied  of  the  sweeping  condemnation 
by  many  observers  of  Siberian  penal  settlements.  That 
exception  is  the  island  of  Saghalien.  I  confess  that  I 
cannot  lay  my  hand  upon  information  as  to  affairs  there 
since  the  partition  of  the  island  in  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Portsmouth,  1905.  Prior  to 
the  date  when  Japan  secured  the  southern  half  of  the 
island  as  the  only  prize  she  took  from  Russia,  I  am  con- 
vinced that  conditions  in  the  prisons  and  at  the  settle- 
ments were  quite  as  bad  as  they  are  described  by  Major 
Griffiths,  in  the  article  on  Deportation  which  he  prepared 
for  the  eleventh  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica.* 

When  going  from  Tsuruga,  Japan,  to  Vladivostok,  in 
July,  1 910,  two  of  my  fellow-passengers  were  American 
citizens,  although  neither  one  had  ever  been  in  the  United 
States,  and  one  of  them  could  not  speak  English.  They 
were  sons  of  an  old  acquaintance,  an  American  by  a 
Russian  wife,  a  fur-dealer  and  an  adventurer  who  knew 
Siberia  for  every  mile  of  the  coast  from  Vladivostok  all 
along  the  shores  of  the  Okotsh  Sea,  the   Kamschatkan 

*  Major  Arthur  George  Frederick  Griffiths,  H.  M.  Inspector  of 
Prisons,  1878-1896.  Author  of  "The  Chronicles  of  Newgate," 
11  Secrets  of  the  Prisons." 


174     RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE    AND    ASIA 

Peninsula,  around  the  northeast  corner  of  Asia  into  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  and  including  the  island  of  Saghalien, 
when  the .  whole  of  it  belonged  to  Russia  and  was  one 
great  penal  colony.  The  two  men  had  frequently  ac- 
companied their  father  on  his  trips,  and  what  they  had 
seen  of  Saghalien  prisons,  prisoners,  wardens,  officials, 
and  superintendents,  supplied  material  for  tales  that 
may  be  matched  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  but  I  hope, 
for  the  sake  of  my  humanity,  cannot  be  outdone  in 
brutality,  bestiality,  cruelty,  and  all  that  is  repulsive. 
These  men  contended,  however,  that  so  far  as  allegations 
of  assaults  upon  women  were  concerned,  they  discredited 
them;  because  they  felt  sure  that  no  women  prisoners 
were  sent  to  the  island  who  were  not  already  hopelessly 
depraved. 


The   Kremlin,   Moscow 
From  Moskva  River 


wmm 


Peter  the  Great's   Palace,   Moscow 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SIBERIA  AND  HER  NEIGHBOURS 

WHO  is  my  neighbour?  It  is  a  question  that  may 
well  be  asked  doubtingly  by  the  Siberians,  for 
their  best  foreign  friend  and  most  earnest  admirer  cannot 
credit  them  with  having  evinced  much  neighbourliness 
to  anybody.  * 

If  the  word  neighbour  must  imply  actual  juxtaposition, 
then  Siberia  is  badly  off.  Of  the  many  tens  of  thousand 
miles  that  measure  the  outer  limits  of  the  great  Asiatic 
half-continent  which  we  know  as  Siberia,  those  lines 
which  keep  inland  and  may  serve  to  mark  the  separation 
of  neighbours,  are  but  a  small  part,  when  we  think  of 
the  coast  line  from  Cape  Tolstoi  (frigid  honour!)  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Kara  River,  by  the  Arctic  Ocean,  Behring 
Sea,  Japan  Sea,  on  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tumen  River. 
On  the  land  side  there  are  not  more  than  a  handful  or  two 
of  human  beings  to  all  the  thousands  of  leagues. 

In  the  reign  of  Tsar  Nicholas  I  (1823  to  1855),  General 
Obruchov  was  told  that  the  "permanent  garrisons"  he 
was  establishing  along  the  Khirgis  Steppes  were  not 
sufficiently  advanced  to  accomplish  the  plan  which  the 
Government  had  mapped  out,  and  that  in  His  Majesty's 
opinion  it  would  be  more  satisfactory  to  all  parties 
concerned,  that  is,  of  course,  Russia  (although  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  native  tribes  on  being  brought  under  "  protec- 
tion "  was  assumed),  to  have  forts  all  along  the  valley  of 


176      RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

the  Syr-Darya.  This,  in  the  middle  part  of  its  course, 
is  about  the  largest  river  in  the  Russian  Central  Asian 
Provinces.  From  its  source  in  the  Semiryetschensk, 
"  Seven  rivers,"  district  of  Russian  (Western)  Turkestan, 
until  it  is  well  into  Ferghana  province,  it  is  called  Naryn. 
After  issuing  from  the  Tian-Shan,  it  soon  loses  impetus 
and  becomes  so  sluggish  that  a  great  deal  of  the  water  is 
soaked  up  by  the  thirsty  sand,  before  the  river  nominally 
empties  into  the  northeast  corner  of  the  Sea  of  Aral; 
and  at  no  place  is  it  of  service  to  serious  navigation. 
At  one  time  a  branch,  now  never  more  than  a  dry  bed, 
save  for  a  few  days  of  the  rains,  entered  the  same  sea 
at  its  extreme  southeastern  part. 

The  obedient  general  took  his  master's  expression  of 
opinion  as  an  imperial  and  imperative  command.  He 
could  do  nothing  else,  although  it  did  not  flatter  him  or 
put  the  stamp  of  approval  on  his  judgment.  The 
advance  movement  was  pushed  far  to  the  south,  because 
that  Syr-Darya  valley  stretches  right  across  the  open 
country,  from  mountains  to  sea,  and  one  result  was  the 
conquest  of  what  we  call  Russian  (Western)  Turkestan. 
How  did  the  Russians  treat  their  newly-gained  neigh- 
bours? "Obruchov  agreed  with  Napoleon  that  waste 
land  was  the  most  impassable  barrier  for  an  army,  so  he 
devastated  the  steppe  country,  destroyed  Bashkir  settle- 
ments, drove  some  of  the  people  into  Russia,  and  settlers 
have  now  at  great  pains  and  expense  to  win  back  the 
land  he  threw  out  of  cultivation."  * 

But  long  before  that  —  indeed  I  strongly  suspect  the 
idea  crept  into  the  head  of  someone  who  followed  very 
soon  after  Ivan  the  Terrible  —  it  had  been  the  ambition 
of  a  Russian  autocrat  to  save  himself  a  lot  of  trouble 

*Gerrare,  op.  cit. 


SIBERIA    AND    HER    NEIGHBOURS     177 

and  provide  for  the  easy  adjustment  of  all  those  Siberian 
land  disputes,  by  making  the  southern  boundary  of  his 
domain  correspond  exactly  with  the  forty-fourth  parallel 
of  north  latitude.  On  his  part,  however,  it  was  to  have 
been  a  matter  of  temporary  convenience  only,  and  it  was 
not  to  be  understood  as  hampering  in  any  way  the  scheme 
of  some  following  Tsar  who  might  wish  to  do  in  another 
place  precisely  what  Nicholas  I  had  begun  in  Turkestan. 

Yet  a  glance  at  the  map  of  Asia  will  show  what  a  fine 
large  slice  of  Mongolia  and  Manchuria  the  carrying  out 
of  this  merry  little  plan  would  have  chopped  off  from 
the  Chinese  Empire. 

It  will  be  noted,  too,  that  the  port  of  Vladivostok, 
although  Her  Majesty,  "The  Sovereign  of  the  East," 
had  not  then  been  born  and  probably  was  not  yet  con- 
ceived of  even  in  the  fertile  brain  of  a  Russian  autocrat 
or  minister,  would  be  outside  Russian  bounds.  But  the 
same  glance  which  reveals  these  things  will  likewise 
make  it  plain  that  parallels  of  latitude  and  degrees  of 
longitude  very  seldom  serve  any  wise  or  useful  purpose 
in  delimiting  the  territories  of  adjoining  States.  Nature 
seems  to  have  defined  with  much  effectiveness  the  boun- 
dary between  Russia's  present  Asiatic  possessions  and 
the  outlying  dependencies  of  the  Chinese  empire:  Man- 
churia, Mongolia,  Dzungaria,  Eastern  Turkestan,  and 
Tibet. 

But  let  us  now  follow  the  line  that  separates  Siberia 
from  her  neighbours.  I  decline  to  recognise  any  Russian 
rights  in  Manchuria  other  than  those  acquired  through 
China's  tolerance,  but  which  audacity  bids  fair  to  convert 
into  permanent  occupation  with  absolute  possessory 
rights.  There  was  a  time  when  this  occupation  on 
sufferance   covered   the   whole   territory   of   the   Three 


178      RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Eastern  Provinces  (for  " Manchuria"  is  a  foreign  word, 
manufactured  by  Europeans;  the  Chinese  official  desig- 
nation, Tung-San-Sheng  means,  literally,  East-Three- 
Provinces).  It  looked  to  the  world  generally  as  if 
Russia  had  no  intention  to  let  go  her  hold,  and  she 
certainly  acted  much  as  if  her  rights  were  sovereign. 

Had  Russia  been  permitted  to  ignore  the  remonstrances 
of  some  other  nations,  the  line  between  Siberia  and  her 
southern  neighbours  would  follow  quite  a  different  course 
from  what  it  takes  to-day.  There  came  an  awakening, 
however,  even  if  China,  whose  manifest  duty  it  was,  did 
not  then  give  the  jar.  It  may  be  that  before  the  ex- 
piration of  the  term  for  which  China  has  granted  Russia 
the  privilege  of  maintaining  her  railways  in  Northern 
Manchuria,*  that  is  until  1939,  there  may  come  another 
convulsion  which  shall  again  restore  China's  sovereignty 
quite  up  to  the  limits  which  are  to  be  a  part  of  that  which 
I  am  now  going  to  consider. 

Beginning  on  the  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Japan,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Tumen  River,  we  find  that,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  Siberia  has  Korea  for  a  neighbour  for  but  a  very 
short  distance,  because  Manchuria  pokes  a  curiously 
irregular  line,  like  a  huge  gnarled  and  twisted  pine- 
branch,  down  towards  the  coast,  past  the  city,  Hun-chun. 
But  the  people  in  that  out-of-the  way  corner  pay  little 
attention  to  geography,  and  Russians,  Siberiaks,  Man- 
chus,  and  Koreans  are  neighbourly  just  as  the  circum- 
stances of  the  hour  determine.  Each  is  jealous  of  all 
the  others,  and  results  may  be  easily  imagined. 

From  the  north  bank  of  Tumen  River,  only  a  few  miles 

*  The  privilege  as  to  Southern  Manchuria  was,  in  1905,  transferred 
by  Russia  to  Japan,  with  China's  approval.  All  China's  rights  of 
purchase  and  of  possession  without  payment  upon  expiration  of  the 
full  period  are  recognised  by  Japan. 


SIBERIA    AND    HER    NEIGHBOURS     179 

up  from  its  mouth,  the  line  between  the  Ussuri  district 
of  the  Maritime  Province  and  Manchuria  at  first  follows 
the  crest  of  a  range  of  low  mountains,  then  touches  the 
western  shore  of  Hinka  (Khanka)  Lake,  and  crosses  its 
northern  end ;  then  it  drops  down  into  the  valley  of  the 
Ussuri  River,  which  is  the  boundary  until  the  Amur 
River  is  reached,  just  above  the  town  of  Khabarovsk 
the  northern  terminus  of  the  Ussuri  Railway  (Vladivos- 
tok-Khabarovsk).  At  this  town  steamboats  are  taken 
up  the  river  to  Stretynsk,  on  the  Shilka  River,  the  termi- 
nus of  the  Siberian  Railway  before  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment wheedled  the  Chinese  into  permitting  the  building 
of  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railway.  This  was  to  have  been 
an  enterprise  purely  in  the  interest  of  commercial  de- 
velopment and  a  matter  of  friendly  accommodation, 
with  no  thought  of  interfering  with  China's  sovereign 
rights. 

The  gold-fields,  and  there  are  several  of  them  in  the 
mountains  at  the  southern  end  of  the  boundary  I  have 
just  sketched  roughly,  have  been  the  cause  of  a  good 
deal  of  feeling  that  was  anything  but  neighbourly.  The 
traversing  of  the  district  by  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railway, 
built,  controlled,  and  operated  by  Russia,  with  Russian 
soldiers  as  guards  every  few  rolls,  has  not  tended  to 
advance  materially  China's  interests.  There  is,  to  be 
sure,  the  counterfoil  of  Chinese  railway  guards,  side  by 
side  or  alternating  with  the  Russians,  after  the  line  passes 
from  Ussuri  into  Manchuria  at  Pogranitchnaieya,  but 
they  need  only  to  be  seen  to  bring  conviction  that  the 
authority  of  China  in  that  part  of  the  empire  is  but  a 
name. 

From  Khabarovsk,  passing  innumerable  small  settle- 
ments of  Russians  on  the  north  bank,  the  large  town  of 


l8o      RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Blagoveshchensk,  and  the  mouth  of  the  Shilka  River,  on 
which  is  Stretynsk,  already  mentioned,  the  Amur  and 
Argun  Rivers  are  the  boundary  between  Siberia  and 
Manchuria  until  the  Mongolian  frontier  is  reached; 
but  just  where  that  line  which  delimits  Manchuria  and 
Mongolia  is  to  be  drawn,  no  one  can  say  positively, 
because  the  Chinese  Government  has  not  yet  fixed  it. 
It  is  generally  understood,  however,  that  the  Khingan 
Mountains  are  included  in  Manchuria. 

The  neighbourliness  along  this  extended  river  frontier 
is  hardly  of  the  kind  that  makes  for  the  best  of  friendship. 
On  the  Chinese  side  there  is  not  a  great  deal  of  agricul- 
tural land,  and  what  there  is  has  not  been  used  to  advan- 
tage by  anybody.  But  when  gold  has  been  found  to  the 
south  of  the  river,  China's  sovereignty  has  been  calmly 
ignored.  Of  late  years  the  disposition  on  the  part  of 
Russian  officials  —  army  officers  especially  —  to  attempt 
to  exercise  absolute  jurisdiction  throughout  the  whole 
of  the  curious  round  shoulder  which  Manchuria  projects 
up  into  the  great  bend  of  the  Amur,  and  their  presump- 
tion in  closing  the  territory  to  all  foreign  exploitation, 
have  been  remarked  by  many  observers. 

I  am  not  sure  that  it  is  entirely  right  to  disapprove  of 
the  Russians'  effort  to  preserve  some  semblance  of  order 
in  that  wild  country;  but  I  am  vehement  for  an  equal 
chance  for  everybody.  The  ability  of  a  frontier  Chinese 
mandarin  to  maintain  order  and  to  protect  life  and  prop- 
erty in  such  jurisdiction,  is  very  properly  derided  by  all 
who  have  witnessed  the  farce.  That  great  Manchurian 
shoulder  has  been  a  sore  trial  to  Russians,  I  know. 
Into  it  there  went  swarms  of  escaped  convicts  who  defied 
all  law  and  everybody,  and  if  space  permitted  I  should 
like  to  dwell  upon  some  of  the  neighbourly  acts  done  there, 


SIBERIA    AND     HER    NEIGHBOURS     l8l 

and  at  other  places  along  the  Amur  Valley.  It  will 
interest  those  who  would  like  fuller  information,  to  read 
the  account  of  the  establishing  of  Albazin,  its  siege  and 
capture  by  the  Chinese,  its  recapture,  and  the  success 
of  China  in  securing  Russia's  acceptance  of  the  treaty  of 
Nerchinsk,  1689,  by  the  terms  of  which  the  entire  line 
of  the  Amur  as  far  as  Gorbitsa  River  was  retroceded, 
because  Russia  could  not  hold  it. 

There  are  some  very  black  stories  to  tell  about  the 
way  Russia  has  acted  towards  her  would-be  peaceful 
neighbours.  I  have  not  time  to  go  over  the  whole 
Boxer  episode;  to  tell  of  Russia's  cruel  refusal  (at  first) 
to  be  interested  in  suppressing  the  revolt  because  it  was 
a  matter  principally  concerning  religious  propaganda, 
and  that  was  something  the  Russian  Church  did  not 
take  an  active  part  in.  Then,  when  the  Chinese  realised 
what  Russia  really  meant  and  a  flame  burst  forth  that 
seriously  threatened  the  Russians  from  the  Amur  to 
the  Gulf  of  Pecheli,  how  did  Russia  treat  her  neighbours? 
Gathered  together  thousands  of  them,  men,  women  and 
children,  into  the  town  of  Blagoveshchensk  and  the 
neighbouring  villages  along  the  Amur;  then  turned  a 
host  of  brutal  Cossacks  loose  who  butchered  the  inoffen- 
sive Chinese  or  threw  them  into  the  river,  and  prodded 
those  who  could  have  saved  themselves  by  swimming. 
There  are  a  good  many  human  butcherings  charged  up 
against  the  Russian  soldiers;  but  that  one  of  Blago- 
veshchensk is  one  of  the  most  horrible,  and  it  is  small 
wonder  that  no  Russian,  soldier  or  civilian,  will  talk 
about  it. 

Russia,  as  I  have  intimated,  has  not  always  dictated 
the  terms  of  peace  in  Asia;  and  we  shall  find  presently 
that  her  neighbour  China's  first  appearance  in  the  role 


182     RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

of  a  diplomat  was  entirely  successful  for  herself  and  not 
to  Russia's  advantage. 

If  from  that  (as  yet)  undetermined  point  on  the  upper 
waters  of  Argun  River  where  Siberia,  Manchuria,  and 
Mongolia  join,  we  cannot  at  once  say  that  the  line  be- 
tween the  first  two  mentioned  neighbours  is  clearly  de- 
fined by  Nature ;  yet  we  shall  not  go  very  far  towards  the 
west  until  it  is  to  be  noticed  how  the  trend  of  the  semi- 
detached chains  of  high  mountains  seems  to  suggest  a  nat- 
ural boundary.  Soon  after  reaching  900  E.  longitude  the 
Siberian  line  leaves  these  mountains  and  her  neighbours 
become,  like  her  own  people,  subjects  of  the  Tsar. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  this  border,  when  among 
the  mountains  that  skirt  the  province  of  Transbaikalia 
or  the  governments  of  Irkutsk  and  Tomsk,  or  still  a 
little  farther  south  in  the  deserts  of  Gobi  and  Dzungaria, 
the  influence  of  Siberia  upon  her  neighbours  has  been 
almost  wholly  for  good.  There  are  reasons  for  the  un- 
usual complacency,  even  kindness,  I  may  say,  of  the 
Russian  officials.  In  the  first  place  there  has  been  no 
necessity  to  make  any  serious  military  display,  because 
the  Tsar's  Government  has  always  been  looking  far  into 
the  future.  There  have  been  some  most  unpleasant 
clashes  between  Russian  and  Chinese  armed  forces; 
but  in  the  main  it  has  been  the  policy  of  the  Muscovite 
to  keep  at  peace  with  the  Pekingese.  There  has  been 
from  the  time  when  the  first  opportunity  was  seized, 
more  for  Russia  to  gain  from  trade  with  China  than  for 
the  latter.  The  few  furs  that  Russian  merchants  carried 
up  to  or  across  the  border  are  as  nothing  when  compared 
with  the  tea  and  silk  which  they  took  back. 

It  is  not  quite  the  whole  truth  to  intimate  that  all  the 
Russian  merchants  crossed  the  frontier  and  made  their 


SIBERIA    AND    HER    NEIGHBOURS     1 83 

way  quite  to  Peking  or  even  the  Yangtze  River,  although 
some  of  them  did  so.  For  centuries  there  has  been  a 
common  meeting  point  at  Kiakhta,  some  distance  north 
of  the  frontier  and  near  the  Chinese  town ,  Maimachin. 
Here  the  Siberians  and  Russians  and  their  neighbours, 
Mongols,  Chinese,  Manchus,  and  representatives  of  many 
small  tribes,  met  and  still  meet  to  barter.  In  1910  the 
Kiakhta  market  was  said  to  be  an  interesting  place  to  visit, 
and  I  am  sure  it  has  not  entirely  lost  its  importance. 

It  is  stated  in  some  works  of  reference  that  since  the 
development  of  commercial  facilities  along  the  Yangtze 
River,  particularly  at  Hankow  (the  trade  centre  of  the 
district  from  which  come  the  teas  that  the  Russian 
upper  classes  like  best),  and  the  opening  of  the  Suez 
Canal,  Kiakhta  has  entirely  lost  its  standing.  This  is 
but  partly  true.  There  is  no  longer  any  important 
market-place  of  the  world  at  which  just  the  same  barter 
and  exchange  of  goods  take  place  that  there  were  before 
money  became  so  common  and  so  plentiful  as  it  is,  and 
facilities  for  the  exchange  of  money  so  great. 

At  Kiakhta  there  is  yet  an  interesting  relic  of  the  old 
barter  days,  and  certainly  the  quantity  of  Chinese  tea 
which  passes  over  the  Peking-Kiakhta  caravan  route 
in  the  season  has  been  but  little,  comparatively,  dimin- 
ished. The  tea  that  one  gets  in  European  Russia  is  too 
good  to  have  taken  that  long  sea-voyage  through  the 
heat  of  the  tropics,  and  it  is  too  cheap  to  have  paid 
the  excessive  ad  valorem  charges.  The  quantity  of  the 
cheapest  stuff,  the  brick-tea,  the  dust,  etc.,  that  probably 
goes  by  ship  to  Black  Sea  ports,  may  be  increasing; 
but  the  dish  of  tea  which  the  upper  class  Muscovites 
love  so  much,  is  likely  to  exercise  some  influence  upon 
neighbourliness,  unless  Russia  can  bag  the  whole  thing. 


184     RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

For  centuries  it  was  the  custom  of  the  merchants 
from  all  parts  of  Russia  in  Europe,  to  assemble  in  the 
early  spring  at  Tobolsk,  and  thence  a  great  caravan 
moved  eastward  and  southward  to  Kiakhta,  arriving  in 
time  for  the  late  summer  or  early  autumn  market.  To- 
day one  is  reminded  of  this  old-time  way  of  doing  things 
by  meeting  at  Irkutsk,  merchants  who  are  going  to 
Kiakhta.  They  now  go,  however,  not  so  much  to  buy 
and  sell  for  themselves  as  to  see  to  it  that  the  tea  bought, 
fired,  packed,  and  shipped  by  their  correspondents  at 
Hankow,  is  expeditiously  passed  through  the  Russian 
Customs,  and  properly  forwarded  to  Verkhne-Udinsk 
for  distribution  thence  to  all  parts  of  the  empire. 

A  few  words  here  about  the  deserts  of  Gobi  and  Dzun- 
garia,   which  have  a  considerable  influence  upon  the 
neighbourliness  of  middle  southern  Siberia.     We  cannot 
learn  very  much  about  these  great  tracts  from  Chinese 
records,  which  are  usually  satisfied  with  the  most  casual 
allusion  to  the  "sea  of  sand,"  and  the  "  outer  barbarians  " 
who  dwell  therein.     In  myth,  fiction,  and  blood-curdling 
tales  that  region  figures  conspicuously,  but  we  do  not 
usually  place  implicit  dependence  upon  this  sort  of  in- 
formation.    Marco  Polo  was  the  first  European  to  tell 
us  about  Gobi,  and  while  he  is  remarkably  reliable  when 
he  speaks  of  that  which  he  had  himself  seen  and  in- 
vestigated, he  was  thoroughly  mediaeval  when  it  came  to 
listening  to  marvellous  tales.     Dr.  Sven  Hedin  is  about 
the  latest,  and  he  is  reckoned  to  be  as  scientifically 
accurate  as  Polo  was  gullible.     The  combined  evidence 
goes  to  show  that  the  deserts  of  Gobi  and  Dzungaria 
are  hardly  worse  than  those  of  Libya  and  Sahara.     As 
our  information  grows,  we  find  cartographists  adding 
dot  after  dot  to  denote  towns  or  villages;    and  where 


SIBERIA    AND    HER    NEIGHBOURS      185 

there  are  inhabitants  for  these,  there  must  be  some 
way  of  procuring  food  and  water  which  do  not  exist  in 
an  absolute  desert. 

The  caravan  routes  across  these  deserts  of  Gobi  and 
Dzungaria,  are  much  less  numerous  than  are  similar 
trails  in  their  great  African  congener;  but  on  the  other 
hand,  what  records  we  have  justify  the  statement  that 
the  peril  of  crossing  them  was  less.  It  is  true  that  for 
quite  six  months  of  the  year,  no  sensible  man  would 
attempt  to  make  the  journey.  The  cold  of  winter  is 
intense,  and  the  gales  which  sweep  over  those  lofty 
valleys,  down  from  barren,  corroded  mountains,  whose 
very  nudity  testifies  to  almost  inconceivably  greater 
bulk  and  an  antiquity  that  challenges  the  geologist's 
record  of  time,  effectually  call  a  halt  to  even  the  most 
hardy  adventurer. 

The  extreme  south-western  neighbour  of  Siberia 
(other  than  the  Russian  Central  Asian  provinces)  is 
what  is  left  to  China  of  the  old  kingdom  of  Dzungaria. 
This  name  itself  is  almost  lost  to  geographers,  because 
the  western  parts,  now  known  as  the  Russian  provinces 
of  Semipalatinsk  and  Semirechensk,  were  cut  off  soon 
after  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  Russia 
made  her  great  advance  into  Central  Asia.  The  rest 
of  the  territory  was  subsequently  apportioned  by  the 
Chinese  government  partly  to  the  administrative  district 
of  (Chinese)  Turkestan  and  partly  to  that  of  northwest 
Mongolia. 

European  scholars  will  always  be  likely  to  take  an 
interest  in  this  neighbour  of  Siberia,  for  Dzungaria 
attained  a  considerable  height  of  civilisation  (I  use  the 
word  relatively)  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  the  kingdom  was  ruled  by  Kaldan  or 


l86       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Bushtu  Khan.  Only  about  one  hundred  years  later, 
in  1757  to  1759,  a  Chinese  army  invaded  the  country 
and  completely  wiped  out  its  independence.  But 
unquestionably,  the  greatest  interest  that  the  people  of 
all  the  world  will  have  in  this  neighbour  of  Siberia,  comes 
from  the  rise  and  overflowing  of  the  great  Mongol  hordes 
who  brought  such  devastation  into  Europe  that  not  only 
was  the  young  Russian  empire  threatened,  but  all  that 
continent  trembled  with  apprehension.  Of  this  subject 
I  have  spoken  elsewhere.  * 

Although  in  this  chapter  I  may  have  seemed  to  give  a 
very  hopeful  aspect  to  Siberia's  relations  with  her  very 
few  neighbours  (and  it  is  but  natural  for  all  lovers  of 
international  peace  to  do  this),  I  must  before  I  close  the 
chapter  confess  to  an  entirely  human  timidity  when  I 
think  of  a  bear  as  a  neighbour,  and  especially  the  Russian 
bear  whose  hug  is  notorious.  I  do  not  believe  that  his 
muscles  were  the  least  strained  or  his  claws  drawn  in 
the  little  fight  he  had  a  few  years  ago  with  the  Japanese 
samurai.  I  doubt  very  much  if  his  claws  were  greatly 
blunted,  and  if  I  were  the  president  of  the  Great  Republic 
of  China  and  firmly  seated  in  the  Chinese  White  House, 
with  every  department  of  my  government  running 
smoothly  and  a  national  legislature  in  entire  harmony 
with  my  policy,  I  should  —  much  as  I  personally  hate 
all  that  savours  of  militarism — try  hard  to  set  the  north- 
ern front  of  my  house  in  order,  and  I  should  certainly  put 
strong  bars  to  all  the  northern  and  western  windows.  It 
is  now  time  to  discuss  some  of  the  specific  instances 
wherein  Russian  diplomats  have  crossed  swords  with  the 
Chinese,  as  well  as  with  the  representatives  of  some  of 
the  other  countries  which  go  to  make  up  the  Far  East. 

*  See  The  Coming  China. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
SIBERIA  AND  THE  FAR  EAST 

IT  is  stated  by  some  authorities  that  immediately 
after  Yermak's  conquest  of  Western  Siberia  the 
Russians  and  the  Chinese  began  their  intercourse. 
Some  say  they  were  actually  in  collision  along  the 
northern  border  of  Mongolia.  I  cannot  believe  either 
the  prompt  intercourse  or  the  collision,  although  had 
there  been  prompt  meeting,  I  can  readily  understand 
how  there  might  speedily  have  followed  blows. 

A  reference  to  a  previous  chapter  will  bring  the  explana- 
tion of  why  it  was  that  the  advancing  Russians  did  not 
come  into  touch  with  the  Chinese  Government  until  well 
into  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  because  the  brave 
and  martially  adept  Buriat  warriors  for  a  long  time  com- 
pelled the  Muscovites  to  take  such  a  northerly  course, 
through  central  Siberia,  that  they  were  altogether  too 
far  from  the  Mongolian  frontier  to  meet  many  Chinese, 

It  was  not,  however,  in  that  part  of  the  continent  that 
Russia  first  attempted  to  give  China  a  lesson  in  diplo- 
macy and  came  so  near  failure  that  Chinese  historians 
themselves  and  Europeans  who  have  dealt  carefully 
with  the  subject  of  China's  history,  speak  with  much 
satisfaction  of  the  fact  that  her  first  real  trial  at  diplo- 
macy resulted  to  her  own  satisfaction, 

It  is  what  is  known  as  the  treaty  of  Nerchinsk,  and  in 
order  to  understand  the  circumstances  of  the  case  at  all, 


188       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

it  is  necessary  to  make  an  effort  to  show,  as  clearly  as  I 
can,  who  the  Manchus  are  and  what  Manchuria  was  — 
not  at  all  the  comparatively  small  area  of  the  Eastern 
Three  Provinces  to  which  the  name  is  now  applied.  It 
is  a  matter  of  small  importance  whether  or  not  I  have 
the  unanimous  endorsement  of  historians  if  I  say  that 
in  all  probability  when  the  Mongol  dynasty,  the  Yuen, 
1260  to  1368  a.d.,  was  driven  off  the  Chinese  throne 
and  out  of  the  empire  by  the  founder  of  the  last  true 
Chinese  dynasty,  the  Ming,  a  part  of  those  particular 
Mongols  went  to  the  east  of  the  Khingan  Mountains 
so  far  that  it  was  considered  by  the  victorious  Chinese 
a  needless  precaution  to  follow  and  annihilate  them 
completely. 

It  is  certain  that  in  that  region  there  developed  a  very 
hardy  and  martial  race  of  people  who  possessed  them- 
selves of  the  territory  from  the  Mongolia  frontier  almost 
indefinitely  to  the  northward  and  eastward  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean;  although  beyond  the  Amur  River,  northward, 
they  gave  little  attention  to  what  they  pretended  to 
dominate.  It  was  through  this  occupation  that  the 
government  of  the  great  Chinese  Empire  asserted  sover- 
eign rights  to  Korea  which,  with  the  whole  of  the  great 
Manchu  estates,  was  brought  into  the  realm  when  the 
Manchus,  in  1644,  effected  their  conquest  and  placed 
Chuntche  (or  Chitson),  the  first  emperor  of  the  Taitsing 
dynasty,  upon  the  throne  of  the  greatly  expanded  empire. 

As  I  have  already  stated,  Manchuria  is  a  word  un- 
known to  the  Chinese;  but  Manchu  is  the  recognised 
name  of  the  people  who  inhabit  the  Manchuria  that  we 
know,  and  who  formerly  were  spread  over  a  much  larger 
territory.  The  name  was  adopted  by  a  ruler  who  rose 
to  power  in  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century. 


SIBERIA    AND     THE     FAR    EAST       189 

Before  that  time  the  peop'e  seem  to  have  been  thoroughly 
nomadic.  I  do  not  give  any  details  of  their  history,  but 
pass  immediately  to  the  early  years  of  the  seventeenth 
century  when,  in  161 7,  Nurhachu,  the  Manchu  leader, 
failing  to  receive  satisfactory  response  to  certain  demands 
he  made  upon  the  Ming  emperor,  of  China,  declared  war, 
and  the  final  result  of  the  struggle  was  the  imposition 
of  the  Manchu  yoke.  "How  a  small  Tartar  tribe 
succeeded  after  fifty  years  of  war  in  imposing  its  yoke  on 
the  sceptical,  freedom-loving,  and  intensely  national 
millions  of  China,  will  always  remain  one  of  the  enigmas 
of  history."  * 

We  are  now  prepared  to  see  how  it  came  about  that 
the  Russians  and  Chinese  came  into  conflict  in  Man- 
churia and  how  they  settled  their  difficulties  diplomati- 
cally. The  Chinese  had  given  but  little  attention  to 
the  fortified  posts  which  the  Russians  had  erected  along 
the  southern  border  of  their  new  possessions,  because 
they  were  in  a  remote  region  and  seemed  not  to  menace 
China's  sovereignty.  But  when  a  fort  on  a  very  pre- 
tentious and  formidable  scale  was  erected  at  the  place 
to  which  the  Russians  gave  the  name  of  Albazin,  the 
Chinese  realised  that  their  sovereignty  was  threatened. 

The  Russians  had  been  lulled  by  the  apathy  of  the 
Chinese  into  the  belief  that  their  plans  were  to  carry 
through  without  interference  from  the  Chinese,  and  that 
their  expropriation  of  the  whole  Amur  valley  was  to  be 
accomplished  without  further  difficulty  than  the  almost 
negligible  opposition  of  an  occasional  native  tribe. 

The  Russians  had  penetrated  into  Dauria,  as  the  region 
east  of  Lake  Baikal  was  then  called,  in  1644,  and  promptly 
passed  on  into  the  Amur  districts,  needlessly  destroying 

*  Boulger,  History  of  China. 


190       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Daurian  villages  and  arousing  these  people  to  opposition. 
The  Daurians  appealed  to  the  Chinese  for  assistance 
in  resisting  the  invaders,  and  Emperor  K'ang-hi 
(1661-1722)  sent  troops  who  gave  the  Russians  a  very 
rude  awakening.  Albazin  was  captured,  the  fort  de- 
stroyed, and  a  number  of  the  Russians  were  taken  as 
prisoners  to  Peking.  It  is  said  that  their  descendants 
have  formed  a  little  colony  unto  themselves  even  down 
to  the  present  time. 

After  the  departure  of  the  Chinese,  the  Russians 
returned  and  rebuilt  their  fort  "with  that  obstinacy 
which  is  one  of  their  characteristics,  and  which  they 
derive  from  their  Tartar  origin. "  *  The  Chinese  re- 
newed their  attack  and  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  to  be 
an  indefinite  struggle.  But  K'ang-hi  was  more  per- 
turbed by  the  uprising  of  some  native  tribes,  at  other 
points  on  the  outskirts  of  his  dominions,  both  east  and 
west,  than  by  the  annoying  Russians.  He  therefore 
listened  to  their  overtures,  made  (according  to  Mailla) 
by  Theodore  Alexovitz  Branki,  son  of  the  governor 
general  of  Eastern  Siberia,  who  visited  Peking  in  1688, 
and  in  the  following  years  ambassadors  from  both  Courts 
met  and  the  treaty  of  Nerchinsk  was  signed.  By  its 
terms  the  river  Gorbiza  or  Kerbeche  (Ghilyui  ?)  became 
the  easterly  limit  of  the  Russian  empire  in  the  Amur 
region ;  the  boundary  going  from  the  headwaters  of  that 
river  along  the  crest  of  the  Yablonnoi  (Stanovoi)  moun- 
tains to  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk.  This  settled  the  aggressions 
of  the  Russians  along  the  Amur  for  two  centuries. 
Inasmuch  as  the  Chinese  cared  little  or  nothing  for  the 
territory  they  had  seemingly  relinquished  to  Russia, 
and  had  defeated  encroachment  to  the  southward,  this 

*  Boulger. 


SIBERIA    AND     THE     FAR    EAST       191 

treaty  was  considered  a  diplomatic  victory  for  the 
Chinese  statesmen. 

Towards  the  end  of  K'ang-hi's  reign,  an  important 
episode  connected  with  Russia  occurred.  This  was  an 
embassy  sent  by  Peter  the  Great  with  a  view  to  securing, 
if  possible,  more  friendly  relations  between  the  two 
nations.  The  first  embassy  that  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment had  sent  to  the  Chinese  Court  had  been  productive 
of  no  results,  because  the  ambassadors  had  refused  to 
perform  the  kaotao  (the  humiliating  ceremony  of  prostra- 
tion, "three  times  kneeling  and  nine  times  knocking 
the  head  on  the  ground").  A  second  embassy  had 
been  sent  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Peking  in  1692;  but 
beyond  the  fact  that  the  envoy's  name  was  Ides,  we 
know  nothing  about  it. 

Peter  the  Great's  embassy  reached  China  in  1719  and 
was  honourably  received.  A  suitable  residence  was 
assigned  for  their  use  and  the  entire  embassy  lived  as  the 
guests  of  the  emperor.  The  members  complained  that 
they  were  not  permitted  to  move  about  freely,  being 
practically  confined  to  their  house  and  prevented  from 
seeing  anything  of  the  life  in  the  Chinese  capital.  The 
protest  of  ambassador  Ismaloff  was  heeded  and  this 
annoying  restriction  of  liberty  was  suspended.  The 
kaotao  again  threatened  to  bring  the  embassy's  effort 
to  naught;  but  when  one  of  Emperor  K'ang-hi's  highest 
rank  ministers,  representing  his  sovereign,  offered  the 
same  respect  to  the  letter  from  Peter  the  Great,  the 
scruples  of  the  Russian  ambassador  were  overcome  and 
an  audience  was  granted.  Peter's  letter  was  presented 
to  and  received  by  the  emperor  and  his  gifts  accepted. 

That  letter  reads  thus:  "To  the  Emperor  of  the  vast 
countries  in  Asia,  to  the  Sovereign  Monarch  of  Bogdo, 


I92       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

to  the  supreme  Majesty  of  Khilay,  friendship  and  greet- 
ing. With  the  design  which  I  possess  of  holding  and 
increasing  the  friendship  and  close  relations  long  es- 
tablished between  your  Majesty  and  my  predecessors 
and  myself,  I  have  thought  it  right  to  send  to  your 
Court,  in  the  capacity  of  ambassador-extraordinary, 
Leon  Ismaloff,  captain  of  my  Guards.  I  beg  you  will 
receive  him  in  a  manner  suitable  to  the  character  in 
which  he  comes,  to  have  regard  and  to  attach  as  much 
faith  to  what  he  may  say  on  the  subject  of  our  mutual 
affairs  as  if  I  were  speaking  to  you  myself,  and  also  to 
permit  his  residing  at  your  Court  of  Peking  until  I  recall 
him.  Allow  me  to  sign  myself  your  Majesty's  good 
friend,  Peter."  It  was  written  in  Russian,  Latin,  and 
Mongolian. 

Boulger  says  that  the  general  testimony  of  all  who 
witnessed  the  scene  declares  it  was  never  before  heard 
of  a  Chinese  sovereign  conferring  greater  honour  on  the 
ambassadors  of  a  foreign  State,  than  K'ang-hi  did  on 
this  occasion  to  the  representatives  of  Russia.  After 
a  short  residence,  Ismaloff  returned  home;  but  before 
his  departure  he  succeeded  in  inducing  the  Emperor  to 
consent  to  his  leaving  his  secretary,  De  Lange,  at  Peking 
as  a  sort  of  diplomatic  agent  for  the  Tsar. 

Ismaloff 's  report  to  the  Tsar  was  so  favourable  (al- 
though entirely  inaccurate,  as  we  now  know)  that  Peter 
was  induced  to  send  a  commercial  mission  into  northern 
China,  expecting  with  a  good  deal  of  confidence  to  open 
and  maintain  a  land  route  from  the  Siberian  frontier  to 
Peking.  The  caravan  reached  its  destination,  Peking, 
in  1 721;  but  the  Tsar's  representatives  found  conditions 
totally  different  from  what  Ismaloff's  report  had  led 
the  Russian  Court  to  expect.    De  Lange  was  little  more 


SIBERIA    AND     THE     FAR    EAST       193 

than  a  prisoner;  and  to  all  overtures  for  development 
of  commerce,  the  Manchu  statesmen  invariably  made  the 
same  reply:  "Trade  is  a  matter  of  little  consequence. 
It  is  something  with  which  statesmen  have  nothing  to 
do,  and  for  ourselves,  we  look  upon  it  with  contempt." 
Not  long  after  this  episode  both  Peter  the  Great  and  the 
Great  K'ang-hi  died.  In  their  ways  they  were  equally 
great,  and  in  true  civilisation  the  Manchu  was  the 
superior  of  the  Muscovite.  Their  successors  were  not 
competent  to  recover  the  ground  that  had  been  lost, 
even  had  they  been  desirous  of  doing  so;  therefore 
diplomacy  and  trade  were  deferred  to  a  later  day. 

K'ien-lung,  K'ang-hi's  proximate  successor,  was  made 
to  recognise  the  presence  of  the  Russians  along  the 
northern  border  of  his  realm.  While  relations  were, 
on  the  whole,  friendly,  there  was  more  or  less  friction  be- 
cause of  the  aggressiveness  of  individual  Russians .  These 
acted  without  official  support;  because  the  terms  of  the 
Treaty  of  Nerchinsk  were  lived  up  to  fairly  well. 

Yet  the  Muscovite  spirit  could  not  but  assert  itself; 
and  having  given  the  text  of  Peter  the  Great's  letter, 
it  will  be  interesting  to  know  how  the  Chinese  emperor, 
K'ien-lung,  expressed  himself  in  a  characteristic  letter 
rebuking  Russian  high-handedness  and  breach  of  faith. 

"It  is  found,  upon  examination,  that  should  a  thief 
belonging  to  either  nation  be  discovered  on  the  frontier, 
he  is  to  be  examined  in  the  presence  of  authorities 
representing  jointly  the  two  Powers.  If  adjudged 
guilty,  he  is  to  be  punished  by  the  authorities  of  his  own 
country,  and  that  without  delay.  Pursuant  to  this  law, 
in  the  forty-fourth  year  *  two  men  who  stole  eleven 
horses  from  some  of  your  countrymen,  were  condemned 

*That  is,  the  44th  year  of  K'ien-lung's  reign,  1779. 


194       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

and  executed.  Our  great  Empire,  acting  according  to 
law  and  strictly  observing  the  faith  of  treaties,  did  this 
not  for  the  preservation  of  friendship  between  us,  but 
because  of  that  love  of  faith  and  truth  which  it  greatly 
esteems.  Now  you,  because  you  have  neglected  to 
execute  a  condemned  Russian  thief,  have  broken  the 
laws  of  friendship  and  the  faith  of  treaties.  Our  great 
Empire  takes  full  cognisance  of  your  manifest  intention 
to  act  according  to  your  own  will,  because  of  the  obstacles 
you  throw  in  the  way  of  executing  justice  when  your 
nationals  are  guilty.  We  shall  not,  therefore,  permit 
further  trade  between  our  subjects  and  yours  to  be  carried 
on.  Although  our  two  empires  border  on  one  another, 
yet  ours  may  properly  call  itself  the  elder  brother.  Since, 
then,  we  hold,  in  the  rank  of  empires,  the  honourable 
place  of  elder  brother,  and  inasmuch  as  we  punished,  at 
your  request,  the  two  thieves  without  delay,  while  you 
refuse  to  us  the  same  satisfaction,  should  our  great 
Empire  brook  such  an  affront?  Ponder  well  and 
examine  into  this  matter." 

Despite  this  haute  en  bas  attitude  of  the  Chinese 
emperor  and  his  Manchu  officials,  they  were  unable  to 
control  their  own  subjects,  and  the  Russians  speedily 
developed  a  large  trade  at  Kiahkta.  In  the  first  year 
of  Emperor  Tao-Kwang,  1820-21,  another  Russian 
embassy  arrived  in  Peking.  Commercially,  it  also  was 
a  failure;  but  in  other  respects  we  may  say  that  some 
good  results  were  gained.  It  was  then  that  the  Russian 
college  was  founded,  and  although  it  really  did  nothing 
for  the  Chinese  in  the  matter  of  science  and  Western 
learning  comparable  with  the  success  in  those  matters 
of  the  French  Jesuits,  still  we  are  indebted  somewhat  to 
that  Russian  college. 


«-  : 


Inside  the   Kremlin,   Moscow 
Gate  of  the  Redeemer 


Inside   the   Kremlin,    Moscow 
Tower  of  Ivan  Veliki.      Tsar  Kolokol  (the  Great  Bell) 


SIBERIA     AND    THE     FAR    EAST       195 

By  an  arrangement  between  the  two  Governments, 
the  resident  staff  of  the  college  was  to  be  changed  every 
ten  years  at  the  longest.  In  1820,  Egor  Fedorovich 
Timkowski  arrived  in  Peking  to  be  the  head  of  the 
college.  His  account  of  what  he  saw  and  did  is  one  of 
the  best  contemporary  works  we  have.  He  was  reminded 
of  the  Kremlin,  Moscow,  when  he  saw  the  crenelated  walls 
of  Siuenhwa-fu;  and  several  other  Chinese  cities  made 
him  think  of  home  towns.  Williams*  says:  "Tim- 
kowski's  journey  with  the  decennial  mission  to  Peking 
in  1820-21  furnishes  one  of  the  best  accounts  of  this 
trade  and  intercourse  now  accessible,  and  with  Klaproth's 
notes,  given  in  the  English  translation  published  in  1827, 
has  long  been  the  chief  reliable  authority  for  the  divisions 
and  organization  of  the  Mongol  tribes."  I  think  I 
may  truthfully  add  that  this  joint  work  has  not 
yet  been  supplanted. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  Chinese  Court,  the  greatest  good 
that  the  Russian  College  accomplished  was  the  training 
of  European  interpreters  who  were  entirely  free  from  the 
contaminating  influences  of  the  Roman  Catholic  (Jesuit) 
missionaries.  Another  of  the  Russian  college  staff, 
although  seemingly  he  belonged  to  an  independent 
ecclesiastical  mission,  was  the  archimandrite,  Hyacinth 
Batchourin,  commonly  called  "  Pere  Hyacinth."  He  gave 
the  first  satisfactory  description  of  Peking  ever  written 
in  a  European  language:  his  book  is  accessible  in  an 
English  translation.  It  is  regrettable,  however,  that  very 
few  of  the  works  of  the  early  Russian  authors  —  those 
who  dealt  with  subjects  relating  to  China  and  Russo- 
Chinese  intercourse  —  have  been  translated. 

Retracing  my  steps  for  a  moment,  in  order  to  complete 

*  The  Middle  Kingdom. 


196       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

the  sequence  of  these  diplomatic  missions,  it  should  be 
noted  that  in  1727  a  fifth  was  sent  by  Tsarina  Catharine, 
under  Count  Vladislovitch.  Yung  Ching,  the  immediate 
successor  of  K'ang-hi  the  Great,  was  then  on  the  throne. 
Intercourse  was  arranged  in  a  fairly  satisfactory  way 
and  some  representatives  of  the  Russian  State  Church, 
six  ecclesiastics  and  four  laymen,  were  permitted  to 
reside  in  Peking  in  order  to  study  Chinese  and  Mongolian. 
The  treaty  which  Vladislovitch  concluded,  was  signed 
August  27,  1729,  and  remained  in  force  until  1858. 
Williams  avers  that  it  was  the  longest  lived  treaty  in 
history. 

About  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  Rus- 
sians resumed  actively  the  colonising  of  the  upper  Amur 
valley,  and  in  1858  and  i860,  treaties  were  made  with 
China  whereby  the  latter  ceded  to  Russia  all  her  territory 
north  of  the  Amur  and  between  the  Usuri  River  and 
the  Pacific.  Thus  the  boundary  between  Siberia  and 
China  in  that  region  was  definitely  established,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Chinese  government. 

Passing  by  what  little  else  there  is  in  the  diplomatic 
intercourse  between  the  Russians,  as  relates  to  Siberia 
and  the  Chinese,  I  now  consider  briefly  the  incident  of 
the  great  Hi  province,  or  region.  The  Chinese  govern- 
ment has  had  much  trouble,  at  different  times,  with  its 
Mohammedan  subjects.  There  was  an  outbreak  in  the 
province  of  Yunnan  shortly  after  the  middle  of  last 
century,  and  at  the  same  time  similar  disturbances 
occurred  in  Shensi  and  Kansu  provinces.  Immediately 
upon  this  came  an  uprising  of  all  the  Central  Asia  tribes 
that  for  some  two  thousand  years  had  morally  acknowl- 
edged Chinese  rule.  In  Kashgaria  a  nomad  chief, 
named  Yakub  Beg,  w}io  was  also  known  as  The  Atalik 


SIBERIA     AND     THE     FAR     EAST       197 

Ghazi,  proclaimed  himself  Amir,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed 
as  if  he  would  maintain  his  independence  of  Chinese  rule. 
The  fertile  province  of  Kuldja,  or  Hi,  which  stretches 
southwestwardly  down  from  the  Siberian  frontier  and 
lies  to  the  north  of  the  Tian-Shan,  was  occupied  by  Russia 
in  187 1.  This  was  done  in  the  interests  of  peace,  as  well 
as  for  the  purpose  of  putting  a  stop  to  the  anarchical 
conditions  which  threatened  Russian  trading  interests. 

The  Russian  Government,  however,  declared  that  it 
would  withdraw  just  as  soon  as  China  had  re-established 
order.  China  found  that  Great  Britain  and  Turkey 
especially  were  greatly  interested  in  her  affairs,  as  related 
to  this  outbreak,  and  she  was,  therefore,  stimulated  to 
unusual  effort.  A  sum  of  £1,600,000  was  borrowed  from 
British  bankers,  and  a  well  equipped  force  sent  into  IK. 

There  was  a  fearful  slaughter,  but  competent  witnesses 
seemed  to  be  agreed  that  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  the  methods  of  the  Mussulmans,  etc.,  this  was  un- 
avoidable. Gradually  the  authority  of  the  Chinese 
emperor  was  re-established  throughout  the  whole  dis- 
affected region,  until  finally  the  Chinese  forces  were  in 
touch  with  the  Russian  outposts  in  the  Pamirs. 

China  then  called  upon  Russia  to  keep  her  promise, 
contending  that  she  had  demonstrated  her  ability  to 
maintain  order.  The  Chinese  emperor  sent  one  of  his 
highest  rank  Manchu  officials,  Chung-how,  to  St.  Peters- 
burg to  negotiate  a  treaty  pertinent  to  the  situation. 
After  long  discussion,  Russia  seeking  to  evade  the  literal 
fulfillment  of  her  promise,  a  convention,  known  as  the 
treaty  of  Livadia,  was  signed  in  September,  1879. 

By  the  terms  of  this  agreement,  nearly  all  of  the 
affected  territory  was  to  be  restored  to  China  upon  pay- 
ment to   Russia  of  five   million    roubles,   which   that 


198       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE    AND    ASIA 

Government  represented  to  be  the  expense  which  had 
been  incurred.  When  this  action  was  reported  in  Peking, 
a  perfect  storm  of  indignation  and  protest  broke  forth. 
One  of  the  most  vehement  denouncers  of  this  prostitu- 
tion of  China's  rights  and  dignity  was  Chang  Chih-tung, 
afterwards  famous  as  "  China's  Greatest  Viceroy,"  and 
the  author  of  "  China's  Only  Hope."  * 

Prince  Chun,  the  father  of  the  young  emperor  (the 
late  Kwang  Hsu)  came  into  prominence  at  this  time, 
and  there  was  considerable  talk  of  war  and  of  expelling 
all  the  foreigners  from  every  part  of  China.  However, 
the  good  judgment  of  saner  statesmen  prevailed  and 
Marquis  Tseng,  at  that  time  Minister  to  England,  was 
sent  to  St.  Petersburg  to  negotiate  another  and,  it 
was  expected,  a  more  favourable  treaty.  A  new  treaty 
was  signed  August  19,  1881,  and  while  China  was  not 
absolutely  restored  to  possession  of  all  the  territory,  yet 
the  terms  were  otherwise  satisfactory  to  the  Chinese 
emperor  and  statesmen. 

"The  Chinese  Government  could  now  contemplate  the 
almost  complete  recovery  of  the  whole  extensive  domains 
which  had  at  any  time  owned  the  imperial  sway.  The 
regions  directly  administered  by  the  officers  of  the  em- 
peror extended  from  the  borders  of  Siberia  on  the  north 
to  Annam  and  Burma  on  the  south,  and  from  the  Pacific 
Ocean  on  the  east  to  Kashgar  and  Yarkand  on  the 
west.  There  was  also  a  fringe  of  tributary  nations  who 
still  kept  up  the  ancient  form  of  allegiance,  and  who 
more  or  less  acknowledged  the  dominion  of  the  central 
kingdom.  The  principal  tributary  nations  then  were 
Korea,  Luchu,  Annam,  Burma,  and  Nepaul."  f 

*See  The  Coming  China. 

tMr.  Valentine  Chirol,  in  Enc.  Brit,  nth  ed. 


SIBERIA     AND     THE     FAR     EAST       199 

This  ambassador  Chung-how,  who  succeeded  in  raising 
the  storm  of  protest  because  of  his  willingness  to  accede 
to  Russia's  exorbitant  demand  for  indemnity,  was  tried 
for  maladministration  and  high  treason  and  condemned 
to  death  on  March  3,  1880.  This  seems  almost  like 
just  punishment,  although  deferred.  In  1870  it  was 
this  man  who  had  been  so  notoriously  connected  with 
the  massacre  at  Tientsin.  In  that  year,  because  of  the 
pretensions  of  the  clerics  connected  with  the  French 
and  Russian  orphanages,  the  Chinese  people  had  attacked 
the  institutions  and  killed  a  number  of  foreigners. 
Chung-how  was  openly  charged  with  having  failed  to 
make  any  effort  to  suppress  the  riot  and  to  protect  the 
foreigners. 

It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  dwell  long  upon  the  events 
of  the  last  years,  in  which  Siberia  and  China  figure. 
The  Boxer  episode  and  its  consequences;  the  history  of 
Manchuria,  the  results  of  the  Russo-Japanese  war,  have 
all  been  either  mentioned  or  they  are  familiar  to  all 
readers,  without  yet  having  attained  the  dignity  of 
history,  while  the  relations  of  the  present  time  are 
too  elusive  to  permit  of  fixing  them  in  written  record. 
If  Russia,  angered  at  the  willingness  of  American  bankers 
to  render  substantial  pecuniary  aid  to  China,  with  which 
she  may  rehabilitate  herself  domestically  and  re-equip 
herself  with  armaments,  shall  carry  into  execution  her 
threat  to  withdraw  entirely  from  all  participation  in 
European  politics,  in  order  that  she  may  devote  herself 
assiduously  to  her  Far  Eastern  interests,  it  is  plainly  a 
notice  to  China  to  gird  up  her  loins. 

The  record  of  Russia's  relations  with  Japan,  until 
after  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  can  be 
summed  up  in  a  few  words.    After  the  Russians  had 


200       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE    AND     ASIA 

made  their  way  to  the  Pacific,  it  was  not  long  until  they 
heard  of  the  advantageous  trade  which  the  Portuguese 
and  their  successors,  the  Dutch,  were  enjoying  at  various 
ports  —  but  principally  Hirado  and  later  Nagasaki  — 
of  the  southern  island,  Kyushiu.  They  made  applica- 
tion for  permission  to  share  in  that  trade,  and  after  a 
most  vexatious  delay,  during  which  the  vessel,  bearing 
the  alleged  commissioner  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  friend- 
ship and  commerce,  was  held  almost  as  a  prize  at  Naga- 
saki, they  were  refused  what  they  asked  and  were  curtly 
ordered  away  from  Japan. 

It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  the  Japanese,  in  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  could  have  known 
precisely  what  an  offer  from  Russia  to  engage  in  friendly 
trading  relations  meant.  But  we  must  not  belittle 
Japanese  intelligence  too  much.  The  few  works  written 
from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago, 
are  very  difficult  to  procure  now  in  original  editions. 
When  such  can  be  had,  it  is  manifest  that  the  Japanese 
rulers  were  in  an  exceedingly  nervous  state  lest  some  one 
of  the  big  European  nations  should  annex  their  little 
kingdom. 

Of  Russia's  capacity  to  absorb  strange  lands  they 
may  have  heard,  and  this  may  explain  something  of 
their  curtness.  At  any  rate  it  is  certain  that  the  Japan- 
ese treated  very  shabbily  Russians  who  fell  into  their 
hands  and  that  the  Russians  resorted  to  armed  reprisals. 
Later  the  Japanese  were  wheedled  —  I  do  not  like  to 
use  the  word  coerced  —  into  exchanging  the  Island  of 
Saghalien  for  the  bleak  Kurile  Archipelago. 

Japanese  statesmen  learnt  something  from  the  per- 
sistency of  the  Europeans  and  their  display  of  martial 
strength,  especially  that  of  the  Russians.     It  was  fortu- 


SIBERIA     AND     THE     FAR    EAST       201 

nate  for  Japan  that  the  attention  of  Europe  was  with- 
drawn from  her  a  century  ago,  and  concentrated  at  home. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  Napoleonic  episode,  it  is  by  no 
means  impossible  that  Russia's  designs  upon  Japan 
would  have  been  carried  out. 

;  But  since  the  re-opening  of  Japan's  doors  in  1853,  or 
1854,  Russia  had  been  content  to  play  a  subordinate  role 
in  the  Far  East,  until  a  comparatively  recent  date. 
Her  evident  designs  upon  Korea,  before  the  events  of 
1900  and  1901,  naturally  aroused  Japan's  jealousy  and 
reasonable  apprehension,  and  were  merely  an  added 
incentive  for  the  preparations  which  Japan  made  for 
the  quarrel  she  picked  with  China  in  1894. 

That  all  political  lines  are  now  drawn  in  the  extreme 
eastern  part  of  the  continent  of  Asia  as  they  are  to  remain 
indefinitely,  is  not  the  conviction  of  those  who  are  best 
informed.  For  a  time  there  were  almost  convincing 
signs  of  an  understanding  between  Russia  and  Japan. 
Each  was  to  keep  hands  off  the  other,  and  if  the  further- 
ance of  one's  plans  meant  discomfiture  to  China,  the 
moral  and  material  assistance  of  the  other  was  assured. 
Of  late  there  seems  to  have  come  a  change;  an  indica- 
tion that  Japanese  statesmen  are  beginning  to  realise 
that  it  is  no  part  of  wisdom  to  build  for  to-day  only. 
In  the  future  it  is  that  Japan's  best  days  are  to  come,  if 
she  keeps  faith  with  her  British  ally  and  if  she  joins 
hands  heartily  with  America  in  helping  China.  To  do 
these  things  properly  demands  a  complete  break  with 
Russia. 

Assuming  that  such  a  break  occurs  —  not  an  immediate 
fight  —  it  requires  no  marked  gift  of  prophecy  to  see  how 
much  strengthened  Japan's  hands  would  be,  if  Russian 
grand  dukes  and  militarists  should  insist  upon  trying 


202       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE    AND     ASIA 

once  more  the  result  of  armed  conflict.  For  the  present, 
it  is  improbable  that  even  those  two  factors  in  Russian 
administration  could  bring  about  another  Russo-Japan- 
ese war,  because  the  sentiment  of  the  people  is  so  much 
against  both  the  war  and  the  administration.  While 
if  Japan  wisely  allies  herself  with  Great  Britain  and 
America  in  building  up  a  New  China,  Russia  would 
hesitate  a  long  time  before  committing  an  assault  upon 
the  weakest  of  that  three-party  combination. 

Russia's  relations  with  Korea  are,  like  those  of  all 
the  rest  of  the  world  now,  a  closed  book.  Commercially 
they  never  amounted  to  anything  entitled  to  serious 
consideration.  Politically,  the  peninsula  was  but  another 
plum  that  the  Muscovite  contemplated  picking  when  he 
was  ready.  He  would  then  have  transferred  his  im- 
pregnable fortress  from  Vladivostok  to  Fusan,  extended 
his  railway  system,  and  had  his  open  port  on  the  Pacific. 
That  he  counted  without  his  host  is  well  for  many  people; 
although  personally  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  admit  that 
Korea  and  the  Koreans  are  one  whit  better  off  in  the 
hard,  unrelaxing  little  hand  of  their  Japanese  taskmasters 
than  they  would  have  been  in  the  big  fist  of  a  Russian 
tyrant. 


CHAPTER  XV 
RUSSIA   IN  CENTRAL  ASIA 

IT  is  a  little  presumptuous  to  give  to  a  single  chapter 
the  title  which  has  been  found  appropriate  to  a 
number  of  volumes.  Furthermore,  it  is  a  topic  that 
cannot  be  treated  exhaustively  until  the  Russian  ad- 
vance and  British  influence  have  lain  down  side  by  side 
in  permanent  peace  somewhere  in  Persia,  or  along  the 
Afghanistan  frontier,  or  at  any  other  agreed  upon  line 
in  southwestern  Asia.  Is  it  a  human  possibility  that 
this  peace  can  be  until  the  Saxon  and  the  Slav  have 
"had  it  out"  and  determined,  so  far  as  brutal  war  ever 
does  determine  anything,  who  is  to  be  the  master  in  that 
part  of  the  world?  This  does  not  involve  the  keeping  or 
losing  of  India. 

If  the  name  of  Mikhail  Skobeleff  is  not  familiar  to  all 
my  readers,  it  is  certainly  one  that  was  well  known  in 
all  the  chancelleries  of  Europe  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  and  a  little  more.  As  a  general  he  was  a  brilliant 
officer;  as  an  active  servant  of  the  Tsar  in  pushing  for- 
ward the  boundaries  of  the  empire,  he  was  remarkably 
successful;  but  as  a  humane  conqueror  he  was  a  ghastly 
failure,  and  his  name  is  even  now  execrated  by  all  the 
descendants  of  the  few  whom  he  permitted  to  survive 
where  he  conquered. 

Skobeleff  once  wrote  a  letter,  so  it  is  said,  in  which  he 
declared,  "In  Central  Asia  the  position  of  affairs  changes: 


204       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

not  every  hour  but  every  minute."  It  is  a  remark  almost 
as  apposite  to-day  applied  to  conditions  in  northern 
Persia  especially  as  it  was  when  the  Russian  general 
and  conqueror  penned  it:  and  Skobeleff  died  in  1882. 
If  its  application  were  limited  to  northern  Persia,  we 
might  perhaps  be  content  to  let  Great  Britain  say  when 
the  change  must  stop.  Yet  when  we  read  in  the  English 
daily  newspapers  and  the  magazines  and  quarterlies, 
the  frank  expressions  of  disgusted  Britons  at  what  they 
call  the  pusillanimity  and  double-dealing  of  their  Govern- 
ment, we  are  not  comfortably  assured  that  even  a  halt 
has  been  called  to  the  Russian  advance  to  the  Persian 
Gulf  and  into  British  India. 

I  am  strongly  inclined  to  believe  that  Skobeleff  voiced 
the  sentiment  of  the  majority  of  Russian  army  and 
navy  officers,  when  he  said,  "I  hate  an  Englishman." 
He  did  not  mean  necessarily  all  civilians,  and  the  hatred 
is  probably  of  that  professional  kind  which  would  find 
its  gratification  in  a  war  in  Persia  or  Afghanistan,  to 
determine  (perhaps)  whether  or  not  the  Muscovite  shall 
go  to  the  sea,  or  stop  just  where  he  is. 

As  I  have  already  stated,  I  am  not  convinced  that 
it  is  in  Central  Asia  alone  that  the  position  of  affairs  is 
changing,  or  is  soon  to  change,  so  far  as  change  is  descrip- 
tive of  Russia's  aggression  and  expansion.  Lovers  of 
peace  can  find  very  little  comfort  in  the  appearance  of 
conditions  just  now;  but  we  may  hope  that  the  ominous 
portent  shall  be  but  a  cloud  which  resolves  into  the 
ether  of  the  bright  skies.  Recently  there  were  most 
ominous  signs  of  outrageous  expansion  southward  along 
the  whole  central  Siberian  frontier.  A  little  later, 
assurances  were  given  that  all  was  well;  but  at  present 
there  seems  to  be  reason  for  apprehension. 


RUSSIA    IN     CENTRAL    ASIA  205 

I  am  going  to  follow  the  example  set  by  those  who  have 
preceded  me  in  discussing  the  possessions  of  Russia  in 
Asia,  other  than  those  now  included  in  Great  Siberia, 
and  call  them  Russia's  Central  Asian  Provinces.  But  as 
a  geographical  matter  of  fact  they  are  not  "central" 
as  relates  to  the  continent  of  Asia.  They  are  central 
only  when  we  think  of  a  north  and  south  line  drawn  along 
the  western  border  of  Asia  between  the  parallels  of 
latitudes  including  them. 

I  could  not  if  I  would  give  to  what  I  may  write  a 
political  aspect;  and  I  do  not  care  to  do  so,  for  obvious 
reasons.  Of  Russia's  methods  in  acquiring  an  area  which 
is  now  estimated  at  1,325,530  square  miles,  I  must  write 
as  I  feel.  Those  feelings  are  influenced  by  another 
declaration  of  General  Skobeleff,  and  again  he  voiced 
the  sentiments  of  most  of  his  fellow  officers:  "I  hold  it 
as  a  principle  that  in  Asia  the  duration  of  peace  is  in 
direct  proportion  to  the  slaughter  you  inflict  upon  the 
enemy.  The  harder  you  hit  them  the  longer  they  will 
be  quiet  afterwards.  My  system  is  this:  to  strike  hard, 
and  keep  on  hitting  until  resistance  is  completely  over; 
then  at  once  to  form  ranks,  cease  slaughter,  and  be  kind 
and  humane  to  the  prostrate  enemy." 

Let  me  illustrate  how  that  "humanity"  was  displayed 
by  Russian  officers  in  Central  Asia,  not  once  but  many 
times.  The  famous  Tekke  (Turkoman)  fortress  of 
Denghil  Tepe,  commonly  known  as  Geok  Tepe,  and  so 
designated  on  our  maps  and  in  the  gazetteers,  was 
captured  at  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Jan.  24,  1881. 

"At  four  in  the  afternoon  Skobeleff  led  his  cavalry 
through  the  breach  and  ordered  both  horse  and  foot  to 
pursue  the  retreating  enemy  and  to  give  no  quarter. 
This  command  was  obeyed  with  savage  precision  by 


206       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

both  till  darkness  fell  —  by  the  infantry  (six  companies) 
for  a  distance  of  seven  miles,  by  the  cavalry  (a  division 
of  dragoons  and  four  sotnias  of  Cossacks)  for  eleven 
miles,  supported  by  a  battery  of  horse  artillery  with  long 
range  guns.  Eight  thousand  persons  of  both  sexes  and 
all  ages  were  mercilessly  cut  down  and  slain.  'On  the 
morning  after  the  battle  they  lay  in  rows  like  freshly 
mown  hay,  as  they  had  been  swept  down  by  the  mitrail- 
leuses and  cannon. '  In  the  fort  were  found  the  corpses 
of  6,500  men,  and  some  thousands  of  living  women  and 
children.  There,  too,  in  General  Grodekoff 's  own  words, 
'all  who  had  not  succeeded  in  escaping  were  killed  to  a 
man  by  the  Russian  soldiers,  the  only  males  spared  being 
the  Persian  prisoners,  who  were  easily  recognised  by 
the  fetters  on  their  legs,  and  of  whom  there  were  about 
600  in  all.  After  that  only  women  and  children,  to  the 
number  of  about  5,000,  were  left.'  The  troops  were 
allowed  to  loot  without  interruption  for  four  days,  and 
booty  to  the  value  of  six  hundred  thousand  pounds  was 
found  inside  the  fortress.  In  the  operations  of  the  day 
the  Russian  loss  was  only  60  killed  and  340  wounded; 
during  the  entire  campaign  283  killed  and  689  wounded. 
Within  the  same  time  Skobeleff  admitted  that  he  must 
have  destroyed  20,000  of  the  enemy. 

"It  was  not  a  rout,  but  a  massacre;  not  a  defeat,  but 
extirpation ;  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  after  this  drastic 
lesson,  the  Tekkes  of  the  Akhal  oasis  have  never  lifted 
a  little  finger  against  their  conquerors. 

"An  incident  related  to  me  in  Transcaspia  afforded 
an  interesting  corroboration  of  the  immeasurable  effect 
that  was  produced  upon  the  inhabitants  by  this  disastrous 
day.  I  have  already  narrated  that  the  Russian  columns 
(there   were  three    of    them,   under  the  command   of 


RUSSIA     IN     CENTRAL     ASIA  207 

Colonels  Kuropatkin,  Kozelkoff,  and  HaidarofT)  ad- 
vanced to  the  assault  with  drums  beating  and  bands 
playing,  a  favourite  plan  of  SkobelefTs  whenever  he 
attacked.  Five  years  later,  when  the  railway  was 
opened  to  Askabad,  and  in  the  course  of  the  inaugural 
ceremonies  the  Russian  military  music  began  to  play, 
the  Turkoman  women  and  children  raised  woful  cries  of 
lamentation,  and  the  men  threw  themselves  on  the 
ground  with  their  foreheads  in  the  dust."  * 

If  this  were  the  only  example  of  comparable,  although 
happily  not  often  equalled,  brutality  in  Russian  military 
methods  in  Asia,  a  broad  charity  might  prompt  us  to 
pass  it  by;  but  it  is  not.  Skobeleff,  after  the  defeat  of 
his  predecessor,  Lomakin,  by  some  of  those  very  same 
Turkomans,  had  been  given  by  his  superior,  the  Russian 
Minister  of  War,  the  Government,  and  the  Tsar  himself, 
an  absolutely  free  hand  as  to  manner  and  methods  of 
conducting  his  operations  against  those  people.  The 
only  limitations  put  upon  him  were  to  conquer  and 
annex.  There  are  two  other  occasions  that  recur  to 
me;  the  massacre  of  the  Yomud  Turkomans  at  Kizil 
Takir  by  General  Kaufmann,  after  the  surrender  of 
Khiva  in  1873,  and  General  Lomakin's  inhuman  bom- 
bardment of  Tekke  women  and  children  at  the  same 
Denghil  Tepe  in  1879.  Unless  the  accounts  we  have  had 
of  the  recent  acts  of  Russian  troops  in  Persia  have  been 
greatly  exaggerated,  and  to  the  prejudice  of  the  Musco- 
vites and  Cossacks,  we  must  admit  that  the  spirit  of  the 
twentieth  century  is  quite  the  same  as  was  that  which 
inspired  the  Russians  in  the  past. 

♦Curzon,  Russia  in  Central  Asia,  pp.  82  to  84.  His  account  is 
based  upon  Siege  and  Assault  of  Denghil  Tepe.  By  General  Mikhail 
Skobeleff  (translated).     London,  1881. 


208       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

It  is,  however,  only  fair  to  the  Russian  soldier,  whether 
Slav  or  Cossack,  to  say  that  all  of  them  did  not  share 
the  brutality  and  cruelty  of  Skobeleff.  That  general, 
when  writing  to  military  headquarters,  insisted  that  in 
selecting  officers  to  serve  under  him,  only  those  should 
be  considered  whose  sole  idea  of  duty  was  to  obey 
implicitly  his  orders,  and  that  all  who  entertained  vision- 
ary sentiments  of  humanitarianism  should  be  kept  away 
from  Central  Asia. 

After  Skobeleff  had  conquered  and  practically  de- 
populated Geok  Tepe,  he  complained  that  he  was 
unutterably  bored,  because  there  was  nothing  left  for 
him  to  do.  Yet  some  of  his  common  soldiers  who  had 
probably  amply  satisfied  his  ideals  of  military  discipline 
and  implicit  obedience  in  the  assault  and  the  succeeding 
butchery,  were  said  to  have  shown  somewhat  of  humanity 
in  caring  for  the  widows,  and  many  of  them  "might  be 
seen  walking  about,  holding  the  little  fatherless  Tekke 
children  by  the  hand." 

I  have  gone  too  far  ahead  of  my  story,  and  must  now 
return  a  long  way  to  consider  the  beginnings  and  de- 
velopment of  these  Central  Asian  Provinces  of  the  Tsar's 
domains.  In  area  they  make  a  respectable  sized  State 
unto  themselves. 

Compare  their  combined  size  with  that  of  some  of 
the  Great  Powers  of  continental  Europe.  Austria- 
Hungary  has  241,333  square  miles;  Germany,  208,780, 
France  207,054.  As  to  population,  comparison  is 
absurd.  As  to  financial  worth  or  commercial  value, 
again  we  cannot  draw  a  parallel. 

In  order  to  keep  a  clear  idea  of  what  we  are  to  include 
in  this  discussion  of  Russia's  Central  Asian  possessions, 
I  give  a  list  of  the  political  divisions  which  are  now 


RUSSIA     IN     CENTRAL     ASIA  209 

usually  embraced  by  that  definition.  Akmolensk,  Semi- 
palatinsk,  Turgai,  Uralsk:  these  provinces  are  in  the 
government-general  of  the  Steppes:  Ferghana,  Samar- 
kand, Syr-Daria,  Semiryechensk :  these  provinces  com- 
pose the  government-general  of  Turkestan :  the  Province 
of  Transcaspia.  The  latest  estimate  of  the  population 
is  9,973,400  for  the  whole.  Ferghana  and  Samarkand 
are  the  only  sections  that  may  be  said  to  have  a  fair 
population:  in  the  former  there  are  53  inhabitants  to 
the  square  mile;  in  the  latter,  43.  Not  another  district 
or  division  runs  into  double  figures. 

There  is  no  reasonable  doubt  in  the  mind  of  one  who 
reads  the  earliest  books  which  are  readily  obtainable, 
Clarke,  Haxthausen,  Pallas,  et  al.,*  that  the  Russian 
Tsar,  well  back  in  the  eighteenth  century,  had  been 
looking  most  attentively  and  covetously  across  the 
Caspian  Sea  into  the  sparsely  populated  regions  of 
adjacent  Asia. 

While  this  may  be,  yet  it  was  not  until  about  1864 
that  serious  attention  has  been  given  to  the  appropria- 
tion of  the  enormous  expanse  of  territory  that  reaches 
down  from  the  Siberian  frontier  to  the  borders  of  Persia 
and  Afghanistan.  That  nobody  in  Europe  paid  the 
slightest  attention  to  what  Russia  was  doing,  for  a  long 
time,  is  as  pertinent  here  as  it  was  in  speaking  of  Siberia. 
Moral  and  sentimental  interest  was  aroused  by  the  brutal 
methods  employed  to  effect  the  annexation,  rather  than 
by  the  colossal  steal  of  other  peoples'  property. 

The  eastern  boundary  of  this  territory,  in  itself  a 
handsome  empire,  is  extremely  irregular,  if  we  think  of 
straight  lines.  Yet  when  we  consider  that  it  is  largely 
made  up  of  mountain  ranges,  along  the  crests  of  which 

♦See  Bibliography. 


2IO       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

the  frontier  as  a  rule  runs,  and  zigzagging  from  range  to 
range  across  the  valleys,  there  is,  after  all,  an  approxima- 
tion to  regularity.  To  the  average  human  being,  the 
top  of  a  mountain  or  a  river  is  a  much  more  compre- 
hensible mete  and  bound  than  is  the  straightest  line 
which  can  be  drawn  across  level  country.  The  western 
boundary  of  the  Central  Asian  Provinces,  where  it  does 
not  march  with  that  of  European  Russia,  is  rather  a 
straight  line,  clearly  defined  by  the  shores  of  the  Caspian 
Sea.  The  southern  border  is  fixed  by  delimitation 
commissions:   but  how  permanently? 

A  very  large  part  of  this  enormous  area  was  simply 
occupied  by  Russian  troops;  the  mere  presence  of  the 
invaders,  armed  and  equipped  as  the  unsophisticated 
natives  had  never  seen  before,  was  quite  enough  to  over- 
awe the  poor  people,  who  submitted  tamely  to  what  the 
Russians  demanded.  There  was  a  stout  resistance  to 
this  agression  by  some,  but  it  was  usually  a  simple  matter 
to  crush  out  such  display  of  independence.  A  few  of 
the  petty  rulers,  or  important  ones,  as  might  be  —  for  ex- 
ample the  Khan  of  Khiva,  the  Amir  of  Bokhara,  and 
others  —  were  flattered  by  being  allowed  to  call  them- 
selves sovereigns  who  had  allied  themselves  with  the 
Tsar  of  Russia,  who,  on  his  part,  promised  them  pro- 
tection from  the  assaults  of  envious  neighbours  or 
troublesome  enemies. 

I  have  already  drawn  attention  to  the  interpretation 
put  by  great  Russian  army  commanders  upon  the 
suggestion  of  the  Tsar  as  to  the  desirability  of  a  line  of 
fortresses  along  the  Syr-Daria  valley.  This  command 
brought  about  precisely  the  result  that  was  expected  — 
the  annexation  of  the  entire  region  from  sea  to  mountain 
tops,  and  the  carrying  out  of  the  conquest  of  the  territory 


RUSSIA     IN     CENTRAL     ASIA  211 

of  the  Tekke  Turkomans  by  General  Skobeleff,  as  has 
been  narrated. 

In  1884  the  Merv  oasis  was  annexed  without  special 
display  of  military  strength.  Three  years  before  that 
the  town  of  Askabad  had  been  made  the  capital  of  the 
recently  constituted  Province  of  Transcaspia,  and  a 
governor-general  was  appointed  to  reside  in  the  place. 
This  act  of  the  Russian  government  enhanced  the  dignity 
of  the  city  and  strongly  appealed  to  the  inhabitants 
thereof  as  well  as  to  the  people  of  the  neighbourhood. 

Describe  the  process  in  any  way  we  choose,  it  has  gone 
on  in  that  quiet,  irresistible  way  which  has  marked  the 
expansion  of  the  great  empire  in  every  direction  towards 
which  the  ruler  has  cast  his  envious  eyes.  We  naturally 
ask  ourselves  the  question,  what  is  the  value  of  this 
possession?  Commercially  it  is  hardly  entitled  to  serious 
consideration;  because  the  cotton  it  supplies  is  now  not 
an  important  factor  in  the  industries  of  Great  Russia, 
and  it  could  have  been  obtained  without  the  sacrifice 
of  life  and  the  expenditure  of  money  which  the  annexa- 
tion entailed.  Most  of  the  other  products  are  classified 
as  aesthetic  luxuries  which  do  not  receive  serious  attention 
from  statisticians. 

If  there  is  real  value  to  Russia  in  having  her  Central 
Asian  acquisition,  it  is  a  selfish  one  and  lies  in  directions 
beyond  the  present  borders  thereof.  Eastward,  there 
are  possibilities  towards  China;  southward,  towards 
India,  Persia,  and  the  Persian  Gulf. 

When  the  time  comes,  if  ever  it  does  come,  which  is 
extremely  doubtful,  that  Russia  opens  freely  these 
Central  Asian  Provinces  to  the  traveller  from  other 
lands,  there  may  be  rich  reward  for  careful  scientific 
investigation.     The    student    of    ancient    history    will 


212       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

(perhaps)  be  able  to  trace  the  route  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  and  see  how  amusingly  he  was  deceived  by  his 
wanderings  into  believing  that  he  had  encompassed  the 
whole  world  with  his  victorious  army,  till  there  were 
no  more  worlds  left  to  conquer. 

The  scourging  track  of  the  early  Tartar  invasions  down 
into  the  southwest  of  Asia  will  interest  the  antiquarian, 
and  he  may  compare  his  Herodotus  with  his  Marco  Polo, 
probably  to  his  astonishment  at  the  reasonable  veracity 
of  both,  and  both  may  be  checked  off  by  facts  demon- 
strated by  cold  precision  and  the  accurate  balance  of 
modern  science.  The  search  for  surviving  relics  of  an 
influence  which  gave  deep  impress  upon  European 
civilisation,  must  attract  many;  as  will,  too,  the  oppor- 
tunity for  investigating  the  Bactrian  or  Sogdian  king- 
doms; and  the  vanished  magnificence  of  the  Great 
Mogul  may  furnish  interest  and  excitement  for  a  moment. 

The  student  of  modern  history  —  he  who  is  not  a 
subject  of  the  White  Tsar,  and  therefore  will  look  upon 
his  opportunities  from  a  different  point  of  view  —  will 
be  able  to  determine,  as  none  who  has  not  been  on  the 
spot  can  do,  something  at  least  of  the  spirit  in  which 
the  successive  steps  of  the  Russian  advance  were  taken 
from  the  first  colony  on  the  Caspian  Sea  to  the  latest 
acquisition.     Where  that  is  to  be,  I  do  not  dare  to  say. 

One  pause  every  visitor  will  make,  at  Merv,  to  mourn 
over  the  dethroned  "  Queen  of  the  World."  For  this  is 
one  of  the  myths  that  the  Russian  occupation  has  ex- 
ploded. Change  and  decay  in  all  around,  he  will  see ;  and 
he  will  perfectly  agree  with  Lord  Curzon  who  says  that 
before  the  eyes  of  the  visitor  to  Central  Asia,  "the  sands 
of  an  expiring  epoch  are  fast  running  out;  and  the  hour- 
glass of  destiny  is  once  again  being  turned  on  its  base." 


CHAPTER  XVI 
RUSSIA   AND  INDIA 

WHEN  discussing  Anglo-Russian  relations  in  Asia, 
whether  they  are  considered  as  the  phase  of 
racial  jealousy,  or  the  spheres  of  influence,  or  the  antipo- 
dal civilisations,  most  people  assume  at  once  that  Russia's 
ultimate  —  and  indeed  sole  —  object  is  the  conquest  of 
British  India.  It  is  usually  contended  that  the  Musco- 
vite wishes  to  precipitate  a  war  with  the  Briton,  the 
prize  to  be  the  possession  of  the  brightest  jewel  in  the 
crown  of  the  British  Empire.  The  whole  British-Indian 
possessions  are  to  be  annexed  to  the  already  huge  and 
unwieldy  realm  of  the  White  Tsar  and  —  for  the  con- 
venience of  everybody  of  interest  or  indifferent  —  the 
Russian  flag  is  to  wave  over  the  whole  continent  of  Asia. 
I  am  disposed  to  doubt  if  Russia  has  quite  such  a  tre- 
mendously wide  view  of  possibilities  as  this  would  mean. 
It  seems  rather  as  if  it  were  still  the  control  of  the 
Bosphorus  with  the  collateral  right  of  way  through  the 
Sea  of  Marmora  and  the  Dardanelles  out  into  the  free 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean  which  Russia  has  in  mind. 

Someone  will  doubtless  ask,  just  what  bearing  does 
Russia's  possessing  or  lacking  the  absolute  command 
of  all  water  communication  between  the  Black  Sea  and 
the  Mediterranean  have  upon  British  rule  in  India? 
The  answer  is  a  very  simple  one.  It  is  a  matter  of 
prestige;  of  Great  Britain's  saving  or  losing  her  face  — 


214       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

to  borrow  a  now  popular  Chinese  expression.  If  Russia 
can  by  any  trick  or  scheming  nag  Great  Britain  into 
declaring  war  upon  her  in  Persia  or  Afghanistan,  the 
fight  would  open  with  a  certain  moral  advantage  for 
Muscovy.  Having  this  handicap  in  her  favour,  she 
would  expect  assistance  from  the  natives,  and  with  their 
help  force  Great  Britain  to  ask  for  peace.  It  is  the 
opinion  of  most  competent  observers  that  the  terms  of 
peace  would  not  be  conditioned  upon  the  surrender  of 
India  but  a  promise  to  let  Russia  have  her  way  with 
Turkey. 

I  wish  to  draw  particular  attention  to  what  now  fol- 
lows, because  few  people  can  so  much  as  think  of  Russia 
and  France  as  even  possible  armed  allies  at  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  Yet  in  the  year  1800  Paul 
(1796  to  1801)  the  insane  Tsar  was  an  easy  and  willing 
victim  of  Napoleon's  flattery  and  artifice.  There  was 
to  have  been  an  alliance  between  Russia  and  France, 
the  purpose  of  which  was  to  destroy  the  power  and 
influence  of  Great  Britain  as  a  potent  factor  in  European 
affairs  by  freeing  the  Indians  and  the  natives  of  all 
dependent  States  from  British  rule. 

Napoleon,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  at  that  time 
merely  First  Consul  of  France.  He  was  carefully 
following  every  fine  of  procedure  or  hint  which  gave 
promise  of  weakening  the  power  that  he  dreaded  most  — 
that  of  England.  On  his  part,  in  this  contemplated 
alliance  with  Tsar  Paul,  he  proposed  to  march  an  army 
of  thirty-five  thousand  troops,  representing  all  branches 
of  the  military  service,  down  the  Danube  valley  to  the 
Black  Sea.  Russian  transports  were  to  be  ready  there 
to  take  this  army  to  Tagaurog  on  the  Sea  of  Azof,  whence 
the  French  soldiers  would  be  carried  up  the  Don  River 


The   Bourse   Lighthouse,   Neva   River,   St.    Petersburg 


Place   de   Marie,    St.    Petersburg 


RUSSIA    AND     INDIA  215 

until  opposite  Tsaritzin  on  the  Volga  River,  where  they 
would  be  joined  by  a  much  larger  army  of  Russians; 
that  is,  Cossacks  mostly.  Here  the  entire  force  would 
be  placed  under  the  always  doubtful  expedient  of  a  joint 
command. 

Descending  the  Volga  by  river  boats  to  Astrakhan,  the 
entire  army  was  there  to  embark  on  transports  and  be 
taken  to  Astrabad,  at  the  extreme  southeast  corner  of 
the  Caspian  Sea.  Here  the  long  overland  march  was 
to  begin,  and  the  route  laid  out  was  by  way  of  northern 
Persia,  through  Herat  and  Farah  to  Kandahar,  at  or 
near  which  place,  in  southern  Afghanistan,  it  was  assumed 
the  allies  would  be  in  touch  with  the  British  forces,  and 
battle  would  take  place. 

Napoleon's  attention  was  diverted  from  this  wild 
scheme  by  more  urgent  matters  near  home,  and  he  with- 
drew from  the  enterprise.  It  is  more  than  doubtful  if 
he  ever  intended  anything  more  than  to  flatter  the 
weak-minded,  yet  tyrannical  Russian  despot  who  had 
been  for  some  time  evincing  such  manifest  incapacity 
to  govern  his  country,  that  plots  were  rife  which  cul- 
minated in  his  murder  on  March  11,  1801.  Napoleon 
probably  did  not  greatly  fear  Paul,  but  he  realised  that 
he  was  a  dangerous  mischief-maker  who  could  be  best 
cajoled  into  harmlessness. 

Paul  had  made  trouble  by  getting  his  country  into  the 
second  coalition  against  France,  that  of  1778;  and  then 
into  another  imbroglio,  that  of  the  armed  neutrality 
against  Great  Britain  of  180 1.  In  both  cases  he  had 
displayed  positive  imbecility  in  acting  from  personal 
petulance.  He  at  one  time  sought  a  quarrel  with  France, 
because  he  professed  a  sentimental  interest  in  the 
Knights  of  Malta  (successors,  so  to  speak,  of  the  Knights 


2l6       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

of  the  Order  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  at  Jerusalem). 
After  their  discomfiture  in  the  Mediterranean,  many  of 
the  knights  had  sought  refuge  at  Paul's  Court  and  the 
half-mad  Tsar  was  made  Grand  Master  of  the  Order  in 
October,  1 798.  His  display  of  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  Order 
naturally  brought  him  into  ridicule  generally.  He  was, 
however,  so  flattered  by  the  attention  of  Napoleon  and 
the  suggestion  of  the  alliance  just  mentioned,  that  he 
went  far  out  of  his  way  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  Great 
Britain. 

The  accounts  which  English  travellers  in  Russia 
during  Paul's  reign  give,  show  plainly  that  the  Tsar's 
senseless  animosity  included  individuals.  Although  a 
little  irrelevant,  I  may  here  state  that  Paul's  antipathy 
to  Britons  seems  to  have  extended  itself  to  include 
practically  all  Europeans  who  ventured  across  his  borders. 
It  is  only  in  this  way  that  we  can  account  for  such 
outrages  as  the  sending  of  Augustus  von  Kotzebue  into 
exile  in  Siberia.*  This  book  contains  an  interesting 
although  extremely  egotistical  account  of  his  experiences. 
It  tends  to  discredit  the  charge  of  universal  and  unvary- 
ing brutality  in  the  treatment  of  political  and  kindred 
exiles. 

After  Napoleon  had  abandoned  the  suggested  conquest 
of  British  India,  Tsar  Paul  seriously  proposed  to  under- 
take the  mad  adventure  on  his  own  account.  Not  with 
his  few  Russian  troops,  however.  Paul,  having  once 
been  seduced  by  the  blandishments  of  Napoleon,  and 
being  now  obsessed  with  the  glory  of  such  an  under- 
taking, sought  to  flatter  others  into  lending  the  needed 

*The  Most  Remarkable  Year  in  the  Life  of  Augustus  von  Kotzebue, 
containing  an  account  of  his  exile  into  Siberia,  written  by  himself. 
Translated  from  the  German  by  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Beresford,  English 
lecturer  to  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  London,  1802. 


RUSSIA     AND     INDIA  217 

aid.  He  must  have  felt  that  he  could  not  depend  upon 
any  of  his  true  Russian  subjects  to  obey  him  in  such  a 
wild  adventure,  despite  his  autocracy. 

Paul  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  head  ataman  of  the  Don 
Cossacks  in  which  he  gave  him  the  opportunity  to 
capture  India  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  his  people. 
He  promised  them  the  whole  Indian  empire,  and  declared 
that  they  could  easily  possess  themselves  of  all  its  untold 
wealth.  It  seems  difficult,  indeed  impossible,  to  believe 
that  the  cajoling  address  which  Tsar  Paul  wrote  at  the 
time  can  have  emanated  solely  and  wholly  from  his 
feeble  brain;  and  its  composition,  as  well  as  its  wily 
tone,  gives  a  very  suggestive  insight  of  the  ease  with 
which  the  Tsar  of  All  the  Russias,  his  Ministers,  and  his 
Army  officers  justify  their  propensity  for  invading  terri- 
tory which  does  not  belong  to  them  and  for  annexing 
lands  which  they  covet. 

When  Tsar  Paul  first  gave  heed  to  Napoleon's  scheme 
for  humiliating  Great  Britain,  he  promptly  prepared  a 
message  which  he  caused  to  be  circulated  freely  along 
the  proposed  line  of  march  in  Asia.  It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  say  that  the  sole  purpose  of  this  circular  was  to 
incite  the  natives  against  the  British.  If  this  could  be 
successfully  accomplished,  it  is  manifest  what  a  tre- 
mendous advantage  would  accrue  to  Russia.  The 
appearance  of  disinterested  altruism  could  hardly  have 
deceived  Persians  or  Afghans. 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  translation  of  the  address: 
"The  sufferings  under  which  the  whole  native  popula- 
tion of  India  groans,  have  appealed  to  France  and  Russia 
so  forcibly  as  to  excite  their  liveliest  interest.  The  two 
Governments  have  resolved  to  combine  their  strength 
in  an  effort  to  liberate  the  peoples  of  India  from  the 


2l8       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE    AND     ASIA 

tyrannical  and  barbarous  yoke  of  English  oppression. 
Accordingly,  this  message  is  sent  forth  to  assure  all 
princes  and  peoples,  through  whose  territories  the  allied 
army  may  pass,  that  they  need  have  no  fear  of  molesta- 
tion or  injury.  On  the  contrary  it  must  be  manifest 
to  all  that  it  is  their  solemn  duty  to  help  with  arms  and 
materials  such  a  glorious  and  beneficent  enterprise.  The 
purpose  of  the  campaign  We  purpose  undertaking  is  as 
just  as  Alexander  the  Great's  was  unjust  when  he  set 
forth  to  conquer  the  whole  world."  Lord  Curzon, 
commenting  upon  this  grandiloquent  manifesto  in  1889, 
quite  properly  imputes  plagiarism  to  General  Skobeleff, 
eighty  years  later,  when  he  tried  the  same  sort  of  appeal. 

In  contemplating  the  relative  positions  of  Russia  and 
Great  Britain  in  Central  Asia,  there  cannot  be  much  that 
is  agreeable  to  those  who  are  patriotic  Britons.  Even 
those  who  are  sincerely  friendly  towards  England's 
legitimate  aspirations  are  not  pleased.  Strangers  are 
compelled  to  acquiesce  in  the  opinion  expressed  by  so 
many  English  writers.  In  fact,  the  whole  method  of  the 
British  treatment  of  such  a  serious  case  has  been  marked 
by  something  which  permits  of  no  other  descriptive 
word  than  stupidity. 

When  Russia  began  the  annexation  of  territory  lying 
west  of  the  Chinese  empire,  it  quite  naturally  seemed  to 
British  statesmen  that  such  occupation  contained  no 
threat  to  the  British-Indian  empire.  We  should  not, 
therefore,  be  surprised  that  no  special  effort  was  made  to 
safeguard  the  outlying  frontiers  by  establishing  stronger 
British  influence  in  Afghanistan  than  has  ever  yet  been 
exerted. 

After  the  Crimean  War  had  prostrated  Russia,  there 
was  little  indication  of  that  aggressiveness  which  later 


RUSSIA    AND     INDIA  2IO, 

was  to  re-assert  itself  with  respect  to  Anglo-Russian 
relations  in  Western  Central  Asia;  and  which  has  been 
positively  offensive  at  times.  The  peaceful  methods  of 
Russia  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  1856, 
makes  it  seem  almost  impossible  that  within  but  a  few 
years  a  Russian  diplomat  has  bluntly  said  to  an  English 
colleague,  "If  you  tamper  with  Russia's  dominions 
north  of  the  Oxus ;  or  if  you  interfere  with  the  realisation 
of  our  national  aims  in  Europe,  we  shall  immediately 
cross  the  Afghan  frontier  and  challenge  you  to  mortal 
combat  in  the  East." 

The  colonisation  of  what  was  already  admitted  by  all 
the  rest  of  Europe  to  be  a  legitimate  conquest  of  Russia 
in  Asia  —  that  is,  Siberia  —  quite  naturally  led  to  an 
overflow  southward  over  the  Kirghis  Steppes.  It  is 
not  worth  while  considering  here  the  desultory  expedi- 
tions, prior  to  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
across  the  Caspian  Sea,  or  the  expeditions  which  even- 
tually led  to  the  annexation  of  the  extensive  Khanate 
of  Khiva. 

There  were  governments  already  established  in  those 
regions  which  were  totally  different  from  almost  every- 
thing the  Russians  had  found  in  Western  Siberia.  Even 
the  settlements  ruled  by  the  first  immigrants  from  Tur- 
kestan, around  the  upper  waters  of  the  Amu-Daria  were 
not  comparable  in  physical  development  and  civilisation 
with  what  was  common  in  several  cities.  These  were 
the  capitals,  usually,  of  the  Khanates,  in  the  middle 
section  of  the  belt  which  has  been  described  as  stretching 
southward  from  Siberia  to  Persia  and  Afghanistan; 
westward  from  the  lofty  mountains  to  the  Caspian  Sea. 

Samarkand  was  early  captured,  and  Bokhara  was 
conquered  to  all  intents  and  purposes  by  1868.     Russia 


220       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

had  already  conquered  Western  Turkestan  and  Khokand 
and  virtually  annexed  them  to  her  domains;  so  that 
north  of  the  Oxus  River  there  was  nothing  to  cause 
special  uneasiness  to  those  who  had  undertaken  the 
task  of  making  the  region  a  part  of  All  the  Russias. 

The  point  of  active  operations,  in  converting  the 
southern  portion  of  these  Central  Asian  acquisitions 
into  thoroughly  Russianised  provinces,  was  from  a 
different  point  and  the  invaders  pursued  a  new1  course. 
Attention  was  given  to  the  Caspian  Sea  frontage  of  the 
new  territory,  and  from  that  base,  operations  were 
carried  on. 

From  Krasnovodsk  steadily  eastward,  by  Geok  Tepe, 
Askabad,  Merv,  Sarakhs,  and  the  oasis  of  Penjdeh,  to 
within  a  few  miles,  comparatively,  of  Herat,  this  move- 
ment advanced  and  Russia  had  a  new  and  singularly 
doubled  Asiatic  dominion.  I  should  like  here  to  follow 
Baron  Curzon's  "  distinction  between  Turkestan,  or 
Central  Asia  proper,  the  capital  of  which  is  Tashkent, 
and  Turkomania,  or  the  country  of  the  Turkomans, 
which  extends  from  the  Caspian  to  Merv." 

A  part  of  the  route  just  mentioned  is  in  Turkomania, 
the  other  in  Turkestan.  Between  them  were  a  great 
river  and  its  wide  bottom  of  desert  sands  that  were 
well-nigh  impassable.  To  river  and  valley  the  name 
Syr-Daria  and  Amu-Daria  are  applied,  now  one  and 
then  the  other,  causing  much  confusion.  But  the  upper 
part  of  the  river  certainly,  if  not  the  whole  of  it,  all  of 
us  know  best  by  the  name  of  the  Oxus. 

After  the  decision  to  prosecute  the  conquest  of  this 
Central  Asia  from  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Caspian  had 
been  made,  it  was  not  long  until  General  AnnenkofI 
conceived  the  idea  of  building  a  railway  from  the  sea 


RUSSIA     AND     INDIA  221 

as  far  eastward  into  these  new  possessions  as  the  thing 
could  be  done.  When,  therefore,  the  native  tribes  had 
been  subdued  and  the  local  rulers  gathered  under  the 
wing  of  Russian  "protection,"  this  work  was  begun. 
Annenkoff's  first  plan  was  too  economical,  and  it  had  to 
be  set  aside  for  something  more  expensive,  but  more 
practical  and  permanent:  the  gauge,  for  instance,  was 
increased  from  a  metre  to  five  feet.  The  fine  now  starts 
at  Krasnovodsk,  on  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  its  present 
eastern  terminus  is  Andijan,  a  town  of  over  fifty  thousand 
inhabitants.  This  last  mentioned  place  is  1650  feet 
above  sea-level,  and  is  attractive  in  many  ways.  It 
was  formerly  the  residence  of  the  Khans  of  Khokand, 
and  it  now  has  beautiful  gardens  and  a  large  park  in  the 
middle  of  the  city.  It  also  has  a  considerable  trade,  is 
the  centre  for  the  raw  cotton  business,  and  throughout 
the  whole  of  Central  Asia,  West  Turkestan  merchants 
are  known  as  Andijani. 

But  Russia  did  not  push  the  Transcaspian  (or  Central 
Asia)  Railway  away  up  into  the  mountains  merely  to 
provide  easy  communication  with  an  attractive  hill 
resort  and  sanitarium.  There  is  a  possible  pass,  the 
Suok,  just  east  of  Andijan  which  gives  access  to  East 
Turkestan  and  so  to  the  whole  of  western  China.  This 
may  well  be  borne  in  mind. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  British-Indian 
officials  watched  the  progress  of  that  railway  with  the 
keenest  interest,  and  that  they  made  many  vehement 
protests  at  Russia's  calmly  breaking  promises  to  respect 
spheres  of  influence.  In  London,  however,  this  railway 
construction  seems  hardly  to  have  received  any  attention 
from  the  statesmen  in  Whitehall! 

The  stories  of  Merv,  Bokhara,  Samarkand,  Tashkent, 


222        RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

are  told  by  Baron  Curzon  in  the  book  I  have  already 
mentioned;  and  later,  very  precise  information  as  to 
Russian  methods  in  this  Central  Asian  region  will  be 
found  in  Mr.  Archibald  R.  Colquhoun's,  "Russia  against 
India."  The  latter  goes  into  details  of  place,  peoples, 
methods,  and  dates  far  more  elaborately  than  is  necessary 
for  my  purpose.  I  do  not  know  any  more  recently 
published  volumes  which  are  quite  as  satisfactory  as 
these  two  I  have  named. 

Let  the  reader  turn  to  a  large  scale  map  of  Central 
Asia  and  note  how  the  railway  passes  right  along  the 
Persian  frontier.  In  the  light  of  recent  events  it  is 
easy  to  understand  why  the  line  bears  so  much  to  the 
southward.  There  was,  of  course,  another  reason,  and 
that  was  to  reach  the  city  of  Merv.  We  must  note 
carefully  the  branch  line  which  goes  due  south,  across  the 
Afghanistan  frontier,  and  is  now  only  sixty-five  miles 
from  Herat. 

Russia  has  repeatedly  declared  that  she  looks  upon 
Afghanistan  as  completely  outside  the  sphere  within 
which  Russia  might  be  called  upon  to  exercise  her  in- 
fluence. Yet  the  record  of  Afghanistan's  recent  history 
is  filled  with  evidence  that  Russia  has  continually  acted 
in  direct  contradiction  to  this  assurance,  and  is  probably 
doing  so  now.  It  is,  therefore,  absurd  to  say  that  the 
British  Government  is  wise  in  ignoring  the  Russian 
advance  towards  the  Indian  frontier,  if  there  ever  was 
any  foundation  for  the  declaration  that  when  once  the 
Russians  are  in  possession  of  Herat,  "the  gateway  to 
India,"  the  fate  of  Britain's  Indian  dominions  enters 
the  acute  stage. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  however,  that  very  little  of  the 
advantage  which  Russia  has  gained  over  Great  Britain 


RUSSIA    AND     INDIA  223 

in  that  part  of  Asia  now  being  considered,  was  the  result 
of  carefully  thought  out  and  deliberately  prosecuted 
plan.  As  Baron  Curzon  says:  "The  Russian  Govern- 
ment has  often  been  as  surprised  at  its  own  successes 
as  rival  States  have  been  alarmed,  and  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  Kushk  episode  in  1885,  so  far  from  being, 
as  was  supposed  in  England,  part  of  a  deep-laid  design, 
was  an  impromptu  on  the  part  of  KomarofT  and  Alik- 
hanoff  that  burst  with  as  much  novelty  upon  the  Foreign 
Office  of  St.  Petersburg  as  it  did  upon  that  of  Whitehall." 

That  Kushk  affair  demands  a  moment's  notice.  The 
Transcaspian  Railway  had  been  constructed  for  145 
miles  from  the  Caspian  —  the  Sea  terminus  was  then 
Michaelovsk,  a  point  on  the  coast  considerably  to  the 
south  of  Krasnovodsk,  the  present  and  doubtless  the 
permanent  western  terminus  —  to  Kizil  Arvat  as  a  light, 
narrow-gauge,  military  line,  to  be  used  exclusively  for 
the  conveying  of  stores  to  the  front.  In  December, 
1 88 1,  the  first  train  reached  that  town,  and  until  1885  it 
continued  to  be  the  eastern  terminus.  In  that  latter 
year,  Russian  and  British  commissions  were  attempting 
to  delimit  the  boundary  between  Afghanistan,  over 
which  British  protection  had  been  recognised,  and  the 
Transcaspian  Province,  as  it  is  now  called,  of  Russia's 
sphere  of  influence.  Even  while  these  negotiations  were 
pending,  some  Russian  troops  —  upon  a  most  flippant 
pretext  —  attacked  the  town  of  Penjdeh  on  the  Kushk 
River,  the  inhabitants  of  which  considered  themselves 
subjects  of  the  Amir  of  Afghanistan. 

The  Russians  had  little  difficulty  in  driving  out  the 
Amir's  troops,  with  some  loss,  and  the  commanding 
officers  took  possessions.  When  the  frontier  was  agreed 
upon,   in  some  extraordinary  way  the  Russians  were 


224       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

permitted  to  remain  in  Afghan  territory,  twenty  miles 
from  the  border.  It  was  all  an  accident,  not  a  premedi- 
tated act;  but  it  convinced  the  Russians  that  their 
interests  demanded  the  permanent  occupation  of  Merv, 
and  therefore  the  whole  plan  of  the  railway  was  changed. 
This  is  but  one  instance  of  these  accidents  which  have 
had  so  much  to  do  with  the  development  and  determina- 
tion of  Russia's  advance  in  Central  Asia.  We  can  hardly 
wonder  that  the  Russians  declare  they  are  evidences 
of  the  truth  of  the  saying,  "  Jupiter  helps  those  who 
help  themselves ";  while  the  British  are  convinced  that 
"The  devil  looks  after  his  own." 

Khiva  was  reckoned  to  be  the  gateway  for  all  com- 
mercial routes  from  eastern  Europe  into  Central  Asia; 
but  peaceful  negotiations  and  all  offers  of  reasonable  tolls 
had  failed  to  open  that  gate;  at  last  force  was  resorted  to. 
Even  this  was  not  immediately  successful.  However,  in 
June,  1873,  the  Khanate  capitulated  to  General  Kauf- 
mann,  and  the  Khan,  although  allowed  to  retain  his  throne 
and  to  keep  up  the  appearance  of  sovereignty,  became  but 
another  of  Russia's  puppets.  The  British  Foreign  Office 
mildly  demurred,  and  some  English  journals  howled  at 
the  threatened  invasion  of  India.  The  same  thing  hap- 
pened as  to  Khokand,  Askabad,  Merv,  Penjdeh  (Kushk), 
and  again  recently  in  northeastern  Persia. 

The  British  Indians  bewailed  the  impending  annexa- 
tion; the  natives  deplored  the  cruel  fate  that  threatened 
to  cast  them  into  the  clutches  of  the  Russian  bear.  The 
statesmen  in  London  accepted  the  explanation  of  the 
"accidents";  and  some  even  went  so  far  as  to  declare 
that  after  all  it  might  be  better  to  have  Russia  as  a 
neighbour  than  to  have  the  constant  trouble  and  expense 
of  keeping  peace  with  the  turbulent  native  tribes  along 


St.   Saviour,    Moscow 


Kremlin  Wall,   Moscow 


RUSSIA     AND     INDIA  225 

the  northern  and  western  frontiers  of  India.  "For  half 
a  century  English  writers  have  proclaimed  that  the  loss 
of  Herat  would  be  the  death  knell  of  India.  When  the 
blow  falls,  I  am  certain  that  the  British  quill  will  cover 
reams  of  foolscap,  but  I  am  not  so  sure  that  the  British 
sword  will  flash  from  the  scabbard."  * 

Russia  will  doubtless  go  blundering  along  or  designedly 
carry  out  her  plans  for  the  increase  of  those  already 
great  Central  Asian  dominions.  She  may,  too,  continue 
to  push  back  the  boundary  of  Britain's  sphere  of  in- 
fluence, slowly  but  surely,  until  patience  has  ceased  to  be 
a  virtue.  Yet  I  am  still  inclined  to  think  that  when, 
however,  the  Russians  deliberately  leave  their  lines  of 
communication  with  the  permanent  bases  of  supplies 
and  start  from  Herat  towards  the  Indian  frontier  with 
the  deliberate  intention  of  attacking  the  British,  then  may 
the  latter's  commander-in-chief  say,  as  did  Cromwell, 
'  now  hath  the  Lord  delivered  them  into  my  hands." 
A  careful  study  of  the  topography  of  the  country  through 
which  the  Russians  would  be  compelled  to  pass,  assum- 
ing the  British  held  to  a  waiting,  defensive  campaign, 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  limitations  of  that  country  to 
maintain  even  Cossacks,  convinces  me  that  no  sane 
Russian  commander  would  undertake  the  enterprise 
and  no  Tsar  gives  his  consent  to  it. 

But  indications  that  have  assumed  some  importance 
since  the  Persian  episode  took  coherent  form,  rather 
tend  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  student  of  Asiatic 
affairs  away  from  the  northwestern  frontier  of  Afghanis- 
tan. Russian  methods  are  again  characterised  by  initial 
ferocity  that  is  brutal;  but  so  they  were  in  the  case  of 
the  people  of  Khiva,  of  Geok  Tepe,  of  Merv,  of  every 

♦Curzon,  op.  cit. 


226       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

place  in  Central  Asia  where  the  objection  to  conquest 
found  expression  in  armed  resistance.  If  SkobelefT 
belied  by  his  acts  at  Geok  Tepe,  the  policy  towards 
conquered  natives  which  he  had  preached,  it  was  not 
always  done.  At  Merv  the  competition  of  Turkomans 
to  join  the  militia  is  always  greater  than  is  the  need. 
It  is  the  same  with  the  western  Tekkes,  the  descendants 
of  those  whose  sires  or  grandsires  were  butchered  but 
thirty  years  ago;  and  so  it  is  in  many  places.  Truly 
it  is  astonishing  how  successful  the  Russians  have  been 
in  converting  bitter  enemies  into  helpful  friends.  It  is 
probably  because  the  officers  encourage  fraternising  of 
their  men  with  the  natives,  in  times  of  peace,  just  as 
heartily  as  the  British  officers  are  rigorous  in  discouraging 
everything  of  the  kind  at  all  times. 

Should  British  complacency  continue  and  Russia 
pursue  her  way  in  Persia,  there  may  yet  be  more  of  the 
customary  brutality,  followed  by  the  usual  fraternising 
and  friendship.  Gradually,  then,  the  way  will  be  opened 
to  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf;  if  that  will  satisfy  the 
ambition  of  Russian  naval  commanders,  as  giving  free 
access  to  the  sea.  This  is,  I  apprehend,  the  explanation 
of  Russia's  seeming  aggressiveness  rather  than  a  mad 
attack  upon  India.  Beaconsfield  never  said  a  truer  thing 
than  that  the  keys  of  India  are  to  be  found  in  London 
and  consist  in  the  spirit  and  determination  of  the  British 
people.  There  is  just  a  little  something  to  add  to  that, 
even  if  it  does  disgustingly  commercialise  the  glorious 
profession  of  arms,  the  only  fit  occupation  for  noblemen: 
the  keys  to  India  are  held  by  the  bankers  of  the  world  — 
some  of  them  are  in  England,  some  in  America  —  and 
until  the  holders  consent  to  use  them  to  open  their  vaults, 
it  will  be  impossible  for  Russia  to  fill  her  war-chest. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
DIPLOMACY  AND  POLITICAL  HISTORY 

DIPLOMACY  is  the  science  of  the  forms,  ceremonies, 
and  methods  to  be  observed  in  conducting 
the  actual  intercourse  of  one  State  with  another, 
through  authorised  agents,  on  the  basis  of  international 
law;  more  frequently  in  deference  to  unwritten  con- 
ventions than  by  anything  resembling  statutes.  Those 
who  are  versed  in  the  science  seem  to  look  upon  it  as  a 
game  to  be  played  in  two  ways.  The  first  is,  I  fear, 
not  entirely  in  favour  with  those  who  have  been  reckoned 
masters  of  the  game.  It  is,  in  this  view  of  the  science, 
to  be  done  with  absolute  frankness  and  truth.  The 
other,  and  this  is  peculiarly  descriptive  of  Russian 
diplomacy,  displays  too  much  of  the  logic  of  the  card- 
table. 

With  Russian  statesmen  it  has  never  been  and  is  not 
now  considered  a  fixed  rule  that  the  obligation  to  speak 
the  truth  to  your  own  disadvantage  holds  good  in  diplo- 
matic intercourse.  They  contend  that  to  deviate  from 
the  truth,  just  as  much  as  the  exigencies  of  the  particular 
case  demand,  is  not  lying;  for  the  "lie"  enters  into  any 
matter  of  intercourse,  individual  or  national,  only  when 
there  is  among  all  concerned  a  recognised  obligation  to 
speak  the  exact  truth,  as  is  the  rule  among  honourable 
people  in  the  simpler  affairs  of  ordinary  life;  and  then 
only. 

If  one  is  playing  bridge  and  he  can  gain  a  selfish  ad- 


228       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

vantage  later  by  playing  a  false  card,  it  is  not  considered 
as  acting  a  lie.  The  invitation,  or  opportunity,  to  win 
the  trick,  if  you  can,  when  refused,  does  not  necessarily 
mean  that  you  cannot  do  so.  When  the  deception 
practised  upon  the  adversary  —  and  upon  the  partner, 
too,  sometimes  —  turns  out  advantageously,  it  is  a  clever 
play  or  a  successful  diplomatic  stroke.  If  the  result  is 
disaster,  well,  it  was  "on  the  cards,"  and  your  friend 
must  bear  it  as  he  can. 

Diplomats,  Russian  and  Japanese  in  these  days  per- 
haps rather  more  than  all  others  (I  do  not  go  back  very 
far  in  the  history  of  diplomacy),  regard  their  trade, 
occupation,  or  profession  very  much  as  most  of  us  do  a 
game  of  cards.  Only,  to  play  the  game  of  diplomacy 
well,  they  think,  demands  a  peculiar  kind  of  selfishness, 
a  peculiar  gift  of  deception,  a  special  knowledge  of  human 
and  government  weakness  and  of  the  subtle  rules  of  the 
game.  There  is  also  to  be  absolute  freedom  in  playing 
false  cards.  The  stakes  are  higher,  the  risks  are  greater, 
therefore  the  line  which  demarks  truth  from  lie  disappears 
altogether. 

A  very  instructive  example  of  Russian  trickery  and 
perfidious  selfishness  in  diplomacy  is  just  now  presented 
to  us.  We  may  suspect  or  deny,  as  we  like,  the  existence 
of  a  secret  agreement  between  Russia  and  Japan  that 
contemplated  the  partition  of  China.  Yet  we  can  hardly 
refuse  to  believe  that  those  two  Powers  have  been  re- 
markably friendly,  since  1905,  in  many  ways,  and 
apparently  working  together  for  the  accomplishment  of 
an  end  which  shall  enure  to  their  common  good. 

There  was  certainly  something  suspiciously  like  a 
scheme  that  boded  ill  for  China  in  Russia's  offer  to  assist 
Mongolia  in  obtaining  independence  of  China's  rule; 


DIPLOMACY    AND    POLITICAL    HISTORY      229 

and  Japan  was  almost  as  vehement  in  ridiculing  Mr. 
Secretary  Knox's  note  which  thwarted  that  and  all 
kindred  schemes,  as  was  Russia  herself;  but  moral  force, 
if  nothing  else,  compelled  both  to  acquiesce.  Had  there 
been  such  a  consummation  of  Mongolian  independence, 
it  is  almost  an  axiom  that  Russian  "protection"  would 
have  been  the  next  step,  and  then  annexation  would 
have  followed  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Baulked  in  this  scheme,  Russia  then  attempted  to 
effect  the  secret  Russo-Belgian  loan  to  China  on  the 
hypothecation  of  the  Kalgan  railway,  the  branch  south- 
ward towards  or  to  Peking  from  a  point  just  east  of 
Mand julie,  on  the  Chinese  Eastern  division  of  the  trans- 
Siberian  line,  already  mentioned.  To  this  America, 
Great  Britain,  and  Germany,  acting  in  concert,  have 
made  vigorous  and  formal  protest.  These  Powers  are 
so  determined  to  prevent  Russia  from  obtaining  control 
of  that  railway,  that  they  have  actually  taken  a  position 
to  enforce  their  protest  "at  the  cannon's  mouth."  The 
American  armoured  cruiser  fleet  is  now  in  a  position  to 
co-operate  with  the  other  friends  of  China,  to  the  fullest 
extent  that  the  necessity  of  the  case  may  seem  to  justify. 

If  we  admit  (as  I  cannot  help  thinking  we  must)  that 
there  was,  or  is,  a  secret  Russo-Japanese  pact  as  to  Far 
Eastern  affairs,  it  must  have  been  galling  to  Japan  to 
learn  of  the  perfidy  of  her  partner  in  that  game.  The 
diplomatic  representatives  in  Peking  of  the  three  Powers 
named  as  friendly  to  China  are  credited  with  having 
pointed  out  to  their  Japanese  colleague  that  the  Tsar 
purposed  using  the  Mikado  as  a  cat's  paw  to  help  pluck 
the  Mongolian  chestnut  from  the  fire. 

This  Kalgan  railway  not  only  commands  the  trade 
of  Eastern  Mongolia,  and  that  is  really  the  best  the  coun- 


230       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

try  has  in  mines,  agriculture,  and  livestock,  but  it  must 
compete  seriously  with  Japanese  enterprise  in  Man- 
churia; for  when  once  the  line  is  opened  for  traffic,  all 
the  through  business  for  the  north  of  China  will  be 
diverted  from  the  Harbin- Chang-chun-Dalny  line. 

Furthermore,  it  is  alleged,  although  most  of  this  has 
not  any  present  value,  that  Russia  had  agreed  that 
Japan  should  profit  equally  through  this  piratical  ex- 
pedition into  China,  and  was  to  be  given  any  needed 
assistance  in  case  of  trouble  with  America  over  Man- 
churia or  the  Philippines.  Instead  of  playing  the  game 
fairly,  Russia  had  tried  to  keep  all  for  herself. 

The  American,  British,  and  German  Ministers  were 
so  successful  that,  it  is  declared,  the  Japanese  Minister 
posted  off  forthwith  to  Tokyo  to  lay  the  matter  in  person 
before  his  Imperial  Master;  because  it  was  altogether 
too  vital  to  be  dealt  with  in  official  despatches.  Cer- 
tainly, the  Japanese  minister  to  the  Chinese  Court  made 
a  hasty  trip  to  Tokyo  about  that  time,  March,  191 2. 

The  Associated  Press  despatch  which  commented 
upon  the  incident,  that  I  have  introduced  here  at  some 
length  to  illustrate  Russian  diplomatic  methods,  winds 
up  thus:  "If  the  Powers  are  able  to  prevent  the  Kalgan 
loan  and  at  the  same  time  to  break  up  the  coalition  be- 
tween Russia  and  Japan,  by  laying  bare  the  Tsar's 
perfidy  to  the  Mikado,  they  will  block,  for  the  present 
at  least,  the  partition  of  China  —  unless  Russia  hatches 
a  more  successful  plot.  It  is  feared  that,  caught  in  her 
treachery,  Russia  will  offer  to  lay  all  her  cards  on  the 
table  and  make  any  sacrifice  to  retain  the  co-operation 
of  Japan  in  pilfering  China  of  her  golden  provinces." 

The  original  germ  of  Russian  diplomacy  is  found  in 
the  behaviour  of  Rurik.     He  and  his  associates  did  not 


DIPLOMACY    AND    POLITICAL    HISTORY      231 

confine  their  efforts  to  the  tribes  which  had  invited  them 
to  come  and  rule;  but  they  began  forthwith  to  conquer 
and  annex  the  surrounding  country ;  sometimes  by  diplo- 
macy, oftener  by  conquest  at  arms.  It  was  diplomacy 
of  the  most  selfish  kind  that  led  Vladimir  I  to  espouse 
the  Byzantine  emperor's  sister;  and  all  the  early  matri- 
monial alliances  with  the  ruling  or  noble  families  of 
Europe  were  in  the  same  category.  So,  too,  was  the 
diplomacy  of  the  later  members  of  Rurik's  dynasty  at 
the  Mongol  Court  and  Dmitri  Donskoi's  coalition  of 
1380  against  Khan  Mamai"  of  the  Golden  Horde. 

Moscow's  policy  of  extending  and  consolidating  her 
dominions  at  the  expense  of  less  powerful  neighbours 
and  relatives,  brought  to  completion  by  the  Muscovite 
diplomacy  of  Ivan  the  Great,  Basil,  and  Ivan  the  Terrible, 
was  but  a  continuation.  There  was  a  singular  blending 
of  religion  with  diplomacy  in  the  posing  as  protectors 
of  the  Orthodox  faith  while  making  demands  upon  the 
Byzantine  rulers.  The  diplomacy  of  Ivan  III,  The 
Terrible,  was  of  a  very  drastic  sort,  a  prototype  of  all 
Russian  negotiations  with  weaker  peoples.  His  imme- 
diate officials  and  representatives  abroad  he  chose  from 
among  men  of  humble  origin,  more  marked  for  their 
fortiter  in  re  rather  than  for  any  suaviter  in  modo;  and  he 
treated  his  boyars  and  great  nobles  most  unceremoniously. 

This  Ivan  brooked  no  contradiction  abroad  and  at 
home  held  himself  to  be  the  head  of  the  Church,  exacting 
from  all  the  ecclesiastics  implicit  obedience.  He  deposed, 
on  his  own  authority,  a  metropolitan  (of  Moscow)  who 
was,  at  that  time,  the  highest  dignitary  of  the  Russian 
Church.  He  was  the  first  ruler  to  be  called,  in  the 
church  service  at  his  coronation,  "the  ruler  and  autocrat 
of  All  Russia,  the  new  Tsar  Constantine  in  the  new 


232       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

city  of  Constantine  Moscow,"  Tsar  being  merely  a 
contraction  of  Caesar. 

During  Ivan  the  Terrible's  reign  Muscovite  diplomacy 
was  called  upon  to  weaken  the  power  of  the  several  jeal- 
ous and  conflicting  Khanates  into  which  the  Tartar  horde 
had  been  divided  because  of  internal  dissension.  The 
principal  of  these  subdivisions  were  Kazan,  Astrakhan, 
and  Crimea.  Through  diplomacy,  coupled  with  trickery 
and  a  display  of  military  strength,  Kazan  and  Astrakhan 
were  annexed  in  1552  to  1554.  Two  years  later  the 
Bashkirs,  Khiva,  and  the  Crimea  gave  some  trouble, 
but  they,  too,  were  subjugated  in  part  and  in  part  per- 
suaded by  Muscovite  diplomacy. 

Towards  the  west,  ambition  to  extend  its  domains 
as  well  as  a  desire  to  reach  the  Baltic  Sea,  brought 
Moscow  and  the  Lithuano-Polish  princes  into  open 
conflict.  The  marriage  of  Ivan's  daughter  to  the 
Lithuanian  grand  prince  did  not  tend  to  improve  condi- 
tions; it  simply  gave  Ivan  further  diplomatic  right  to 
interfere  in  the  government.  Altogether,  Russian  diplo- 
macy in  those  early  days  was  entirely  directed  towards 
territorial  expansion  and  selfish  control;  and  we  cannot 
say  that  it  has  greatly  changed  since. 

During  the  reigns  of  Theodore  I  (1 584-1 598),  Boris 
Godunoff  (called  the  creator  of  serfage,  but  really  only 
the  accelerator  of  a  process  which  was  the  natural  result 
of  economic  conditions,  1 598-1605),  Basil  Shuiski  (1606- 
16 10),  and  the  Pseudo-Demetrius  II  (1608-16 10),  there 
was  too  much  disturbance  at  home  for  diplomacy  to  be 
required.  Those  internal  dissensions  gave  opportunity 
for  the  enemies  of  Moscow  to  develop  strength,  and 
Michael  (16 13-1645)  was  compelled  to  make  peace  with 
Sweden,  as  well  as  to  sign  a  very  precise  treaty  with 


DIPLOMACY    AND    POLITICAL    HISTORY      233 

Poland,  the  terms  of  which  were  by  no  means  favourable 
to  Russia. 

Under  Alexius  (1 645-1 676)  the  country  recovered 
strength  and  resumed  an  aggressive  foreign  policy. 
This  was  especially  directed  towards  the  Ukraine  District, 
Little  Russia,  along  the  valley  of  the  Dnieper.  While 
not  precisely  diplomacy,  the  episode  of  Alexius  and  the 
Patriarch  Nikon  deserves  attention,  because  it  involved 
the  settling  of  the  question  of  which  was  supreme,  the 
State  or  the  Church.  The  incident  afforded  a  new  proof, 
where  no  proof  was  actually  required,  that  the  autocratic 
power  of  the  Tsar  is  supreme,  alike  in  matters  spiritual 
and  administrative.  Peter  the  Great  abolished  the 
patriarchate  altogether,  and  entrusted  the  administration 
of  the  Church  to  a  Synod  entirely  dependent  on  the 
government. 

It  is  now,  when  Peter  the  Great  appears  upon  the 
scene,  that  Russia's  foreign  relations  begin  to  attain 
real  importance.  The  Emperor  of  Austria,  the  govern- 
ments of  England,  Holland,  France,  and  Sweden,  even 
the  Grand  Turk,  made  overtures  to  the  Tsar.  Some 
of  them  wished  to  gain  him  as  an  ally  against  their 
rivals;  while  others  hoped  to  obtain  from  him  com- 
mercial privileges  and  especially  permission  to  trade 
direct  with  Persia.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  at 
this  time,  because  of  the  depredations  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean and  Red  Sea  pirates,  the  sea-route  to  the  East 
was  virtually  closed  to  all  the  Christian  nations  of  Europe. 
So,  too,  were  the  roads  through  Asia  Minor,  Palestine, 
etc.  Consequently,  the  only  caravan  route  available 
was  that  which  passed  through  Russian  territory  and 
protectorates. 

These  advances  were  all  received  coldly.     The  Russian 


234       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE    AND    ASIA 

diplomats  and  statesmen  had  aims  which  could  not  be 
reconciled  completely  with  the  policy  of  any  other 
country;  while  the  native  merchants,  fearing  competi- 
tion objected  to  any  concessions  to  foreigners.  Negotia- 
tions therefore  gave  little  tangible  results;  but  they 
helped  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  new  order  of  things 
which  was  soon  to  be  introduced  by  Alexius'  son,  Peter, 
known  as  "The  Great." 

Peter's  diplomatic  relations  had  a  substantial  practical 
foundation.  During  his  half-sister's  regency  he  had  led 
a  suburban  life,  associating  with  foreigners  who  taught 
him  mechanical  arts,  western  military  drill,  the  building 
and  sailing  of  boats,  and  other  useful  things.  He  was 
ambitious  to  have  his  country  attain  rank  as  a  naval 
power.  The  White  Sea,  where  there  was  the  port  of 
Archangel,  being  impossible,  he  made  effort  to  gain  access 
to  the  Baltic  Sea,  and  he  also  considered  the  Black  Sea 
with  free  access  to  the  Mediterranean. 

Peter's  great  tour  through  western  and  southern 
Europe  —  he  also  visited  England  —  just  before  he 
actually  took  the  reins  of  government  into  his  own  hands, 
taught  him  a  great  deal.  Of  this  knowledge  he  made 
good  use  in  later  life.  Returning  home  in  haste  from 
Venice  and  Vienna  (because  of  an  insurrection  of  the 
stryeltsi,  Cossack  regiments,  of  Moscow) ,  he  learnt  from 
King  Augustus  of  Poland  of  the  partition  of  Sweden's 
trans-Baltic  provinces,  and  Russia  obtained  Ingria  and 
Karelia. 

Peter's  ambition  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  his 
domains  to  the  Black  Sea  coasts  involved  him  in  much 
trouble.  He  was  compelled  to  sign  a  humiliating  treaty, 
whereby  Azof  and  other  conquests  had  to  be  returned 
to  Turkey,  and  his  plan  for  releasing  Christians  from 


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DIPLOMACY    AND     POLITICAL    HISTORY      235 

the  infidel  yoke  was  abandoned.  The  conquest  of  the 
northern  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  was  postponed  until 
the  time  of  Catherine  II. 

During  the  reign  of  Catherine  II  (1 762-1 796)  Russia 
had  so  far  advanced  in  civilisation  that  she  was  recog- 
nised as  one  of  the  Great  Powers.  Her  foreign  inter- 
course was,  however,  rather  along  literary  and  kindred 
lines  than  diplomatic.  Efforts  were  made  to  push  the 
frontiers  westward  and  southward.  As  France  was  the 
traditional  ally  of  Sweden,  Poland,  and  Turkey,  Russia 
at  first  adopted  the  so-called  Systeme  du  Nord;  that  is 
to  say,  a  close  alliance  with  Prussia,  England,  and  Den- 
mark against  France  and  Austria. 

Russia's  advance  westward  into  Poland  indirectly 
raised  "the  Eastern  Question,"  because  it  threatened 
two  of  France's  traditional  allies,  Sweden  and  Poland. 
Whereupon  the  Comte  de  Choiseul  conceived  the  idea 
of  thwarting  Catherine's  plans  by  inducing  France's 
third  traditional  ally,  Turkey,  to  attack  her.  But  this 
was  not  a  successful  scheme,  because  the  Sultan  was 
defeated  and  had  to  sign  the  treaty  of  Kuchuk-Kainarji, 
which  gave  Russia  a  firm  hold  upon  the  Black  Sea  and 
the  lower  Danube  River.  This  peace  was  very  short- 
lived, and  the  scheme  of  aggression  which  Catherine 
planned  soon  became  manifest.  The  Porte  declared 
war  in  1787,  and  while  Russia  was  fortunate,  no  material 
advantage  was  gained.  By  the  peace  of  Jassy,  January, 
1792,  Russia  retained  certain  territory  and  privileges; 
but  the  Turks  remained  at  Constantinople,  and  the  reali- 
sation of  those  hopes  which  the  friends  of  the  Greek 
Church  had  entertained  was  postponed  indefinitely. 
After  all  there  was  not  much  of  diplomacy  conspicuous 
in  Catherine's  reign,  and  none  at  all  in  Paul's. 


236       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE    AND     ASIA 

When  Alexander  I  ascended  the  throne  of  All  the 
Russias,  that  empire  considered  itself  a  powerful  member 
of  the  European  family  of  nations;  and  this  was  the 
beginning  of  the  aspiration  to  exercise  predominant 
influence  in  all  continental  questions.  This  tendency 
had  been  indicated  already  when  Catherine  created  the 
League  of  Neutrals  as  a  combination  against  the  naval 
supremacy  of  England;  and  again  when  Paul  insisted 
that  his  negotiations  with  Napoleon  Bonaparte  should 
be  regarded  as  part  of  a  general  European  pacification 
in  which  he  must  be  consulted.  Alexander  was  even 
more  insistent  upon  this  principle,  as  becomes  apparent 
when  we  read  the  convention  of  October,  1801,  with 
the  First  Consul.  This  is  an  example  of  aggressive 
diplomacy. 

Success,  although  but  trifling,  appears  to  have  made 
Alexander  unduly  self-complacent.  He  imagined  that 
if  any  more  territorial  changes  were  contemplated,  he 
would  be  consulted  and  his  advice  receive  the  greatest 
consideration.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if  he  assumed 
that  he  might  be  looked  upon  as  co-dictator  of  European 
affairs  with  his  new  ally,  France. 

But  these  ill-assorted  allies  soon  became  rivals  and  a 
breach  was  opened  in  1803-4.  In  August  of  the  latter 
year  the  imminence  of  armed  conflict  was  recognised, 
and  it  came  the  next  year,  when  Russia,  Prussia,  and 
Austria  were  allied  against  France.  After  Austerlitz, 
December,  1805,  and  Friedland,  June,  1807,  where 
Russia-Austria  and  Russia-Prussia  were  overwhelmingly 
defeated,  came  the  meeting  between  Alexander  and 
Napoleon  on  the  raft  in  the  river  at  Tilsit.  The  exact 
terms  of  the  treaties  there  arranged  need  not  be  given 
here;  but  that  meeting  was  the  most  consummate  piece 


DIPLOMACY    AND    POLITICAL    HISTORY      237 

of  diplomatic  impudence  ever  known;  the  whole  world 
was  to  be  divided  between  Tsar  and  Consul. 

If  Alexander  cherished  the  hope  that  he  gained  through 
defeat  in  battle  a  strong  ally  in  diplomacy,  he  was 
promptly  undeceived  and  his  hope  of  power  crushed. 
There  was  much  war  and  diplomatic  scheming;  but  the 
most  important  measure  —  the  Rhenish  Confederation 
—  secured  for  France  a  footing  on  the  Baltic;  the  grand- 
duchy  of  Warsaw  was  re-organised  and  strengthened  (a 
direct  slap  at  Russian  ambition) ;  the  promised  evacua- 
tion of  Prussia  was  indefinitely  postponed;  an  armistice 
between  Russia  and  Turkey  was  negotiated  through 
French  diplomacy  overcoming  Russian.  By  this  last, 
Russian  troops  had  to  leave  the  Danube  provinces 
which  Alexander  had  intended  to  annex  to  his  empire, 
and  the  scheme  for  breaking  up  the  Ottoman  empire 
as  well  as  ruining  Great  Britain  by  the  conquest  of 
India,  which  had  been  one  of  the  most  seductive  baits 
in  the  Tilsit  trap  —  but  which,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
state,  had  not  been  specified  in  the  formal  treaty;  all 
this  was  no  longer  so  much  as  mentioned. 

Later  Napoleon,  now  become  again  an  enemy,  turned 
his  attention  to  Russia,  and  during  the  memorable  three 
years,  181 2  to  181 5,  it  was  largely  due  to  Alexander's 
skill  and  persistency  that  the  allies  held  together  and 
freed  Europe  from  the  threatened  Napoleonic  domination. 
"When  peace  was  finally  concluded,  he  had  attained 
that  predominant  position  in  European  politics  which 
had  been  the  object  of  his  ambition  since  the  commence- 
ment of  his  reign,  and  he  now  believed  firmly  that  he 
had  been  chosen  by  Providence  to  secure  the  happiness 
of  the  world  in  general  and  of  the  European  nations  in 
particular."     That  the  people  did  not  agree  with  him  is 


238       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND    ASIA 

a  statement  which  would  lead  up  to  a  consideration  of 
the  reasons  for  our  own  Monroe  doctrine.  In  Russia  it 
marks  the  beginning  of  the  secret  societies  in  18 16, 
in  which  a  large  number  of  young  army  officers  were 
members,  and  eventually  the  revolution  of  Decem- 
ber, 1825. 

The  reign  of  Nicholas  I  was  not  marked  by  any 
startling  display  of  diplomacy.  He  strongly  advised 
the  King  of  Prussia  to  refuse  to  be  made  emperor,  when 
the  crown  was  offered  him  during  the  reactionary  period 
of  1848-9.  He  rendered  great  assistance  to  the  Emperor 
of  Austria  in  suppressing  the  Hungarian  insurrection. 
He  also  compelled  the  Prussians  to  suspend  their  support 
of  the  insurgents  in  Schleswig-Holstein.  The  conven- 
tion of  Akerman,  Bessarabia,  1826,  had  secured  for 
Russian  ships  free  passage  of  the  Dardanelles.  Nicholas* 
participation  in  signing  the  treaty  of  London,  July  27, 
1827,  which  contemplated  a  solution  of  the  Greek  ques- 
tion by  the  intervention  of  the  Powers,  indirectly  led 
to  the  destruction  of  the  Sultan's  fleet.  There  was  hard 
fighting  between  the  Russians  and  the  Turks,  the  result 
being  altogether  advantageous  to  the  former.  They 
secured  full  liberty  of  navigation  and  commerce  in  the 
Black  Sea,  as  well  as  other  material  benefits. 

Diplomatically,  Russia  became  for  the  time  being, 
yet  not  for  very  long,  supreme  at  Constantinople.  The 
Egyptian  campaign  of  1831-1833  certainly  brought  no 
discredit  to  Russian  diplomacy.  Later  the  convention 
of  London,  July  15,  1840,  checked  Russian  policy  with 
regard  to  Turkey.  The  result  of  the  Crimean  War 
was  a  humiliation  to  the  Muscovites,  from  which  they 
cannot  be  said  ever  to  have  recovered.  The  terms  of 
peace  required  the  abandonment  of  Russia's  attitude 


DIPLOMACY    AND    POLITICAL    HISTORY      239 

towards  Great  Britain;  the  limitation  of  the  former's 
armaments  in  the  Black  Sea;  the  withdrawal  from  the 
mouths  of  the  Danube  River;  the  return  to  Turkey  of 
Bessarabia,  which  Russia  had  annexed  in  181 2;  and 
finally  to  a  renunciation  of  all  special  rights  of  initiative 
between  the  Sultan  and  his  Christian  subjects.  In  the 
face  of  crushing  defeat  at  arms,  Russian  diplomacy  was 
unable  to  cope  with  that  of  her  conquerors.  Nicholas  I 
did  not  live  to  learn  of  the  humiliation  put  upon  his 
country.  He  had  died  at  St.  Petersburg,  March  2, 1855, 
and  had  been  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Alexander  II. 

Prince  Alexander  Mikhailovitch  Gortchakoff  (1798  to 
1883),  the  eminent  statesman,  had  been  ambassador  to 
Vienna  during  the  Crimean  War,  and  his  diplomacy  was 
of  the  greatest  service.  He  said,  after  returning  to  St. 
Petersburg  and  becoming  a  member  of  Alexander  IPs 
Cabinet:  La  Russe  ne  boude  pas;  elk  se  recueille,  " Russia 
isn't  sulking;  she  is  pulling  herself  together."  But  she 
did  sulk,  and  with  good  reason,  so  far  as  Austria  was 
concerned,  and  resented  the  manifested  unfriendliness 
during  the  Crimean  War,  which  all  Gortchakofl's  skill 
had  barely  been  able  to  prevent  displaying  itself  in 
overt  act.  This  ingratitude,  after  what  Russia  had 
done  at  the  time  of  the  Hungarian  revolt,  confirmed 
fully  the  cynical  prediction  of  Prince  Schwarzenberg, 
that  his  country  would  some  time  amaze  the  world  by 
its  ingratitude. 

It  is  said  that  there  was  a  possibility  of  a  Russo- 
Turkish  alliance,  after  the  close  of  the  Crimean  War. 
The  wiliness  of  Russia  in  this  needs  no  explanation  here. 
The  scheme  was  thwarted  in  1863  by  the  French  emperor 
giving  moral  and  diplomatic  support  to  the  Polish 
insurrectionists.     Bismarck  now  appears  on  the  stage 


240       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

and  he  rendered  assistance  to  Russia  in  blocking  the 
threatened  intervention  of  France  and  England  in  favour 
of  the  Poles. 

Bismarck's  action  laid  the  foundation  of  the  friendly 
relations  which  prevailed  between  the  Governments  of 
Prussia  and  Russia  until  1878.  It  dispelled  the  opposition 
of  the  latter  to  the  creation  of  the  German  empire;  Russia 
doubtless  contributed  materially  towards  the  success  of 
Prussian  plans,  after  1870,  by  defending  the  Prussian 
Cabinet  against  the  jealousy  and  open  enmity  of  Austria 
and  France.  The  Iron  Chancellor,  in  return,  helped 
Russia  to  recover  a  portion  of  what  had  been  lost  by  the 
Crimean  War.  It  was  certainly  due  to  Bismarck's 
diplomatic  strength  and  unfriendly  connivance  versus 
France  and  Great  Britain,  that  Russia  had  the  temerity 
—  dishonesty,  it  would  be  called,  were  we  not  consider- 
ing diplomacy  —  to  denounce  with  impunity  the  clauses 
of  the  treaty  of  Paris  which  restricted  her  Black  Sea 
armaments. 

Had  Alexander  II  been  satisfied  with  this  important 
diplomatic  achievement,  his  reign  might  have  been  peace- 
ful and  prosperous.  Instead  of  resting  content  for  the 
time  being  with  reconstructing  the  fortress  at  Sebastopol 
and  building  a  Black  Sea  fleet,  he  foolishly  tried  to  recover 
all  that  he  had  lost,  the  province  of  Bessarabia  and  pre- 
dominant diplomatic  influence  at  Constantinople.  The 
inevitable  consequence  was  war  with  Turkey,  1877-78, 
and  this  was  by  no  means  a  series  of  successes  for  Russia. 
The  Turkish  army  repeatedly  repulsed  the  Russian, 
and  if  Bessarabia  was  recovered,  it  was  only  through 
treachery  to  and  at  the  expense  of  Russia's  ally,  Rou- 
mania.  Russia  achieved  no  increase  of  prestige  in  the 
Near  East,  and  when  Constantinople  was  reached,  it 


DIPLOMACY    AND    POLITICAL    HISTORY      241 

was  to  find  that  Great  Britain  and  Austria  forbade  the 
Russian  army  to  enter  that  city.  In  the  diplomatic 
wrangle  which  supervened,  Cis-Caucasia  was  extorted 
from  the  Porte  by  the  terms  of  the  preliminary  treaty  of 
San  Stefano  (March  3,  1878);  but  that  convention  was 
revived  and  considerably  modified  in  Turkey's  favour 
by  the  Congress  of  Berlin,  convened  on  June  13,  1878 
and  dissolved  July  13.  Russia  swore  to  avenge  herself 
for  being  despoiled  of  what  she  claimed  were  legitimate 
prizes  of  war,  just  as  Japan  vowed  vengeance  for  being 
robbed  of  the  Liaotung  Peninsula.  Japan  eventually 
succeeded;  Russia  has  in  part;  will  she  wholly? 

In  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  much 
greater  success  attended  the  efforts  of  Russian  diplomacy 
in  Asia.  The  treaty  of  Aigun,  without  military  opera- 
tions, secured  the  greater  part  of  the  Amur  basin  from 
China.  If  it  was  diplomacy  that  effected  the  annexation 
of  Khiva  and  Bokhara,  that,  too,  was  a  success.  In  Asia, 
after  the  accession  of  Nicholas  II  (1894),  the  expansion 
of  Russia,  following  the  line  of  least  resistance  and 
stimulated  by  the  construction  of  the  trans-Siberian 
Railway,  took  the  direction  along  the  northern  frontier 
of  China  and  towards  the  effete  little  kingdom  of  Korea. 
A  great  portion  of  the  eastern  section  of  the  line  was 
built  on  Chinese  soil,  and  elaborate  preparations  were 
made  with  surprising  confidence  for  bringing  the  whole 
of  Manchuria  within  the  sphere  of  Russian  influence. 

With  this  purpose  in  mind,  the  Russian  Government 
after  the  China- Japan  War  of  1894-5,  objected  to  all 
continental  expansion  by  Japan,  and  insisted  upon 
having  the  Treaty  of  Shimonoseki  modified  to  suit  its 
views.  Later,  substituting  Russia  for  Japan,  a  long 
lease  of  the  Liaotung  Peninsula  was  secured  from  the 


242       RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Chinese  Foreign  Office,  and  a  concession  to  connect 
Dalny  and  Port  Arthur  with  the  trans-Siberian  Railway, 
by  a  branch  line  to  Harbin,  was  wrung  from  the  Tsung-li 
Yamun. 

Russia  thus  tightened  her  grasp  upon  that  part  of  the 
Chinese  Empire  and  contemplated  completing  the 
Russianising  of  the  territory  by  the  process  of  ''sponta- 
neous infiltration,"  that  is,  voluntary  and  forced  colonisa- 
tion coupled  with  official  and  military  occupation. 
From  Manchuria  it  was  expected  this  Russian  influence 
and  "spontaneous  infiltration"  would  pass  on  into 
Korea,  which  would  come  within  the  sphere  of  influence, 
and  on  the  coast  a  better  port  and  a  stronger  fortress 
than  Vladivostok  would  be  constructed. 

This  scheme  was,  however,  most  surprisingly  checked 
by  the  vigorous  opposition  of  Japan  who  had  for  centuries 
looked  upon  Korea  as  her  own.  Japan  likewise  declared 
very  plainly  that  she  would  not  listen  to  any  assertion 
of  Muscovite  monopoly  in  the  Eastern  Three  Provinces. 
Russian  diplomats  tried  to  overcome  Japan's  opposition 
by  an  affected  contempt  of  the  pretentious  little  Island 
Kingdom  and  by  dilatory  measures  in  not  fulfilling  the 
promise  to  evacuate  Manchuria. 

Patience  being  exhausted,  Japan  did  dare  to  attack 
the  Muscovite,  broke  off  diplomatic  negotiations  most 
abruptly,  and  in  February,  1904,  began  hostilities. 
These,  while  not  ultimately  resulting  in  victory  for 
Japan,  proved  to  be  a  series  of  reverses  for  Russia,  both 
on  land  and  sea,  until  Mukden,  when  there  were  un- 
mistakable signs  that  the  tide  had  turned.  Fortunately 
for  Japan,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
Summer  of  1905,  intervened  in  the  interests  of  humanity, 
and  an  armistice  was  agreed  to.     The  treaty  of  Ports- 


DIPLOMACY    AND    POLITICAL    HISTORY      243 

mouth,  October,  1905,  is  variously  interpreted  by  stu- 
dents: some  contending  that  it  was  altogether  a  diplo- 
matic triumph  for  Japan;  others  asserting  that  the 
Russian  statesmen  were  the  victors.  The  reception  of 
the  conditions  of  the  treaty  by  the  Japanese  populace 
would  argue  for  the  latter  view;  but  the  more  astute 
Japanese  statesmen  realised  then  that  even  greater 
concessions  to  Russia  would  have  been  wisely  made  to 
prevent  renewal  of  hostilities  and  ultimate  crushing 
defeat. 

Russia  was  doubtless  influenced  in  acceding  to  the 
demand  for  peace,  by  her  own  domestic  troubles.  The 
people,  all  considered,  were  opposed  to  the  war  and  to 
the  causes  therefor.  The  old  Liberal  movement  as  well 
as  the  Terrorist  organisations,  which  had  been  suppressed 
by  Alexander  III,  were  being  revived,  and  the  leaders, 
taking  advantage  of  the  unpopularity  of  the  war,  were 
agitating  for  the  summoning  of  a  Constitutional  Assembly 
which  should  replace  the  hated  bureaucratic  regime. 
To  use  a  homely  expression,  Russia  had  so  many  troubles 
of  her  own,  that  she  welcomed  any  way  of  getting  out  of 
the  mess  she  had  got  into  with  Japan. 

Something  has  already  been  said  about  Russia's 
diplomatic  relations  with  China,  —  the  treaties  of 
Nerchinsk  and  Aigun.  In  i860  the  valley  of  the  Naryn 
River,  south  of  Lake  Issyk-kul,  had  been  formally  ceded 
to  Russia  by  the  treaty  of  Peking,  the  southern  boundary 
being  fixed  along  the  summit  of  the  Tian-shan  range  and 
along  the  watershed  between  the  valley  of  Kashgar  and 
that  of  the  headwaters  of  the  Syr-Daria  (Oxus),  that 
Great  Plateau  of  the  Pamirs.  This  was  certainly  a 
diplomatic  triumph  for  Russia,  because  it  opens  up 
another  possible  way  of  getting  into  western  China. 


244       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE    AND    ASIA 

Continuing  for  a  moment  to  discuss  Russo-Chinese 
diplomatic  relations,  I  am  one  of  the  many  who  believe 
that  when  Li  Hung  Chang  died,  Russia  lost  her  best  friend 
at  the  Chinese  Court.  He  was  a  paid  Russian  agent 
and  he  served  his  employers  well,  and  as  faithfully  as  it 
was  in  him  to  serve  anything  but  his  own  pocket.  The 
treaty  of  Shimonoseki,  between  China  and  Japan,  in 
1895,  was  drawn  as  it  was  with  malice  aforethought. 
Russia  felt  confident  that  she  could  convince  the  other 
European  Powers  of  the  madness  of  letting  Japan  have 
a  footing  on  the  continent  of  Asia;  and  the  ceding  of 
Liaotung  was  made  to  be  abrogated,  eventually  in 
Russia's  favour.  The  great  and  good  "  Chinese  "  Gordon 
foretold  Li  Hung  Chang's  treachery.* 

In  1842  a  formal  treaty  was  signed  with  the  Khan  of 
Khiva,  by  the  terms  of  which  he  promised  to  maintain 
friendly  relations  with  the  Russians  and  to  restrain  his 
people  from  committing  acts  of  robbery  and  piracy. 
This  treaty  was  the  result  of  armed  demonstration  in 
1 83 9-1 840,  and  in  compliance  therewith  418  Russian 
captives  were  liberated  and  sent  into  Russia  accompanied 
by  an  envoy  to  make  apology.  But  the  treaty  accom- 
plished nothing  and  annexation  followed  as  a  matter  of 
course. 

After  a  long  and  bitter  struggle,  Turkey  assigned  to 
Russia,  by  the  treaty  of  Adrianople,  1829,  her  sove- 
reignty over  the  tribes  in  Caucasus.  The  museum  at 
Tiflis  contains  many  pictures  which  display  the  heroic 
struggles  of  the  Russians:  one  of  them  represents  the 
Cossacks  throwing  themselves  into  a  ditch  to  let  the 
artillery  pass  over  their  living  bodies.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  how  the  Muscovites  finally  succeeded  in  conquer- 
*  See  The  People  and  Politics  of  the  Far  East,  p.  246. 


DIPLOMACY    AND    POLITICAL    HISTORY      245 

ing  those  brave  mountaineers.  Like  Indians  they  fought 
from  behind  trees,  and  it  was  impossible  to  rout  them 
from  the  timber.  The  Russian  commander  then  gave 
orders  to  cut  down  all  the  trees;  whereupon  Schamyl,  the 
Caucasian  leader,  exclaimed:  "Now  that  the  Russians 
are  chopping  away  the  woods,  I  perceive  that  WoronzofT 
has  discovered  the  secret  of  my  strength !" 

Henry  Norman  *  in  writing  of  Anglo-Russian  relations, 
said:  "I  am  perfectly  convinced  that  a  good  and  lasting 
understanding  between  the  two  nations  is  not  only 
desirable  above  all  things,  but  also  well  within  the  range 
of  possibility.  ...  If  our  statesmen  had  been  stronger 
(and  younger,  I  mean),  we  should  ere  this  have  been  on 
the  road  to  an  understanding,  for  Lord  Salisbury  has 
confessed  that  the  anti-Russian  pro-Turkish  policy  of 
Lord  Beaconsfield  was  'putting  our  money  on  the  wrong 
horse';  and  Mr.  Balfour  has  pointedly  remarked  that 
'  Asia  is  big  enough  for  both.'  Their  words  flew  up,  but 
their  thoughts  remained  below,  for  officially  we  are  as 
suspicious  of  Russia  as  ever,  and  Russia  is  equally  dis- 
gusted with  our  unformed,  incalculable,  spasmodic 
policy.  Therefore  she  goes  calmly  ahead,  doing 
what  she  pleases,  taking  what  she  wants,  knowing 
that  in  all  probability  when  England  alone  desires 
or  opposes  anything,  a  few  acid  despatches,  and  a 
little  calling  of  names  in  Parliament  will  be  the  worst 
she  has  to  fear.  In  diplomacy  Russia  plays  a  sly 
game,  and  plays  it  sometimes  without  scruples;  but  she 
both  respects  and  likes  an  opponent  who  plays  his  own 
game  slyly,  too,  and  she  does  not  demand  in  others  a 
higher  standard  of  scrupulousness  than  she  follows  her- 
self. .  .  .  The  ablest  and  most  powerful  statesmen  of 

*All  the  Russias,  1902. 


246       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Russia  would  welcome  a  definite  and  far-reaching  recon- 
ciliation and  adjustment,  if  they  could  be  convinced  of 
British  sincerity  and  consistency.  Anybody  who  knows 
what  the  Novoye  Vremya  is,  will  see  what  a  change  has 
come  over  Russian  opinion  when  that  journal  publishes 
a  series  of  lengthy  articles  from  the  pen  of  M.  Siromyatni- 
koff,  a  much  respected  publicist,  advocating  an  Anglo- 
Russian  agreement  and  warning  his  fellow  countrymen 
against  the  ' costly  assistance  of  honest  brokers'  in 
Berlin. " 

Events  of  the  past  year  tend  to  discredit  this  optimism, 
as  they  do  that  which  believes  that  a  glance  at  the  map 
will  show  there  is  no  foundation  for  the  fear  that  is  felt  in 
Europe,  especially  in  England,  lest  Russia  is  to  absorb 
all  Asia  and  become  the  autocrat  of  the  world.  This 
feeling  of  security  found  comfort  in  the  fact  that  Russian 
expansion  had  been  chiefly  towards  the  east  into  thinly 
settled  countries  where  the  conflict  was  more  with  nature 
than  with  man,  and  that  it  has  been  between  parallels  of 
latitude  where  the  conditions  of  life  are  closely  similar  to 
those  in  the  home  land.  The  doubtful  accuracy  of  such 
statements  and  the  instability  of  such  hopefulness  have 
been  indicated  in  these  pages. 

If  it  really  rests  with  the  two  Great  Powers,  Russia 
and  Great  Britain,  to  decide  what  shall  be  the  fate  of 
Persia;  what  shall  be  the  fixed  boundary  between  the 
Russian  and  the  British-Indian  spheres  of  influence, 
there  is  one  thing  imperatively  necessary,  and  I  dislike 
very  much  to  mention  it.  British  statesmen  must  do  a 
good  deal  more  than  has  been  done  in  the  past  decade  to 
regain  Russia's  respect.  It  is  not  respect  for  the  British 
character  that  I  mean,  but  respect  for  British  diplomacy, 
international  sagacity,  and  determination.     During  the 


DIPLOMACY    AND    POLITICAL    HISTORY      247 

South  African  War,  Great  Britain  tried  to  make  overtures, 
but  diplomatically  that  was  something  silly.  As  Henry 
Norman  says  in  speaking  of  Russia  and  this  incident: 
"She  would  observe  that  not  until  we  had  fought  an 
unsuccessful  war  for  more  than  two  years,  spent  two 
hundred  millions  [pounds  sterling]  of  money,  seen 
Consols  down  to  92,  lost  twenty  thousand  men  and 
wondered  how  we  were  going  to  replace  our  present 
army  when  it  is  disbanded,  did  it  occur  to  us  to  remember 
that  we  loved  Russia  so  much  that  we  would  gladly  make 
a  heavy  sacrifice  for  her  good-will."  When,  in  the  winter 
of  1911-12  the  diplomacy  of  Great  Britain  as  displayed 
in  the  Shuster  episode  in  Persia  was  called  to  account  in 
Parliament,  and  openly  derided  by  British  statesmen 
and  publicists  in  signed  articles  published  in  the  reviews 
and  magazines,  it  cannot  be  said  that  Great  Britain  is 
exerting  herself  strenuously  to  regain  Russia's  respect 
for  her  diplomacy. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION 

THE  State  religion  of  Russia  is  that  of  the  Greek 
Church,  which  should  properly  be  called  the 
Eastern  Church.  Loyal  and  patriotic  Russians  who 
yield  allegiance  to  the  State  in  all  matters  —  conscience, 
person,  property  —  call  it  The  Orthodox  Church,  and 
that  is  its  official  designation.  That  Eastern  Church  is 
unquestionably  the  source  from  which  has  sprung  all  the 
major  and  minor  divisions  and  distractions  of  the 
Western  Church.  Devout  Russians  —  and,  truly,  all 
are  that  even  when  they  are  frequently  immoral  —  do 
well  to  resent  the  arrogance  of  the  Romish  schismatists 
in  claiming  priority  and  supremacy. 

It  was  in  the  East  that  Christianity  had  its  origin. 
Greek  was  the  language  of  the  Scriptures  and  of  the 
earliest  services  of  the  Church,  and  Byzantium  (later 
Constantinople)  was  the  head  of  the  Church  before  Rome 
was  dreamt  of  as  the  Ruler  of  Christianity.  The 
Russians  agree  fully  with  those  Italian  writers  who  assert, 
with  good  reason,  that  it  is  more  than  doubtful  if  St. 
Peter  ever  was  in  Rome;  and  it  is  certain  that  Latin 
Christianity  is  much  later  than  Greek.  When  this  Latin 
Church  had  established  itself  in  southern-central  Europe 
and  in  Africa,  and  when  the  Roman  Empire  became 
divided,  the  eastern  part  became  separate.  It  was  then 
that  the  term  Greek  or  Eastern  Church  came  to  have 
special  significance. 


RELIGION    AND    EDUCATION         249 

With  the  conquest  of  Constantinople  by  the  Moslems, 
the  integrity  of  the  Eastern  Church  was  destroyed  at  its 
base,  but  its  power  survived  in  the  Orthodox  Church  of 
Russia.  The  venerable  Doctors  known  as  the  Greek 
Fathers,  St.  Chrysostom,  St.  Basil,  St.  Athanasius,  and 
St.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  were  banished  from  religious 
representations  in  the  West;  but  their  majestic  figures 
meet  us  repeatedly  in  the  sacred  art  of  Eastern  Christen- 
dom, and  a  fifth  is  generally  added,  St.  Cyril  of  Alexan- 
dria. We  sometimes  find  them  represented  in  the  West, 
but  it  is  only  where  Byzantine  artists  were  employed, 
as  at  St.  Mark's  in  Venice  or  Monreale  in  Sicily. 

St.  Basil  is  the  Greek  Father  whose  image  is  most 
frequently  encountered  in  travelling  through  Russia. 
It  is  found  in  nearly  all  the  churches,  and  it  is  sold  in 
every  icon-shop.  He  was  the  founder  of  monasticism  in 
the  East  and  implicit  faith  is  placed  in  his  intercessory 
prayers.  Armenian  Christians  still  believe  that  the 
prayers  of  this  Saint  can  not  only  redeem  lost  souls  from 
Purgatory,  but  actually  rescue  fallen  angels  from  the 
pains  of  Hell. 

There  is  something  almost  pathetic  about  most  of  the 
magnificence  displayed  in  the  grandest  cathedrals  and 
churches  of  the  Russian  State  Church,  and  it  is  a  singular 
parallel  with  similar  conditions  obtaining  in  the  Romish 
Church.  When  the  interested  visitor  from  other  lands 
asks  a  Russian  friend  who  it  is  that  furnishes  the  money 
spent  in  furniture,  vestments,  and  decorations,  and  in 
conducting  the  ornate  services,  the  answer  is  almost 
invariably  "the  common  people,  the  peasants";  and  it 
is  true.  The  Russian  equivalent  of  Rome's  "Peter's 
pence"  is  the  source  from  which  comes  the  conspicuous 
parts  of  the  State  religion.    The  central  government, 


250       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

the  municipality,  the  village,  may  perhaps  erect  the 
edifice  and  furnish  it  sparsely,  but  it  is  the  rnudjiks' 
kopeks  that  will  make  it  a  blaze  of  glory,  or  tawdriness, 
as  the  case  may  be  and  according  to  the  way  the  stranger 
looks  at  the  display. 

Should  the  stranger,  as  is  but  natural,  express  sym- 
pathetic regret  that  this  burden  falls  on  those  who  can 
least  afford  to  bear  it,  he  is  assured  that  these  very 
same  peasants  and  other  poor  people  would  resent  most 
strenuously  any  effort  of  the  Government  to  prevent 
them  from  making  the  sacrifice.  They  will  have  these 
decorations,  so  often  studded  with  genuine  jewels. 
They  demand  as  their  right  the  elaborate  services  which 
cost  so  much  money;  and  the  Government  is,  perhaps, 
wise  in  yielding.  For  were  the  State  to  do  otherwise  and 
try  to  teach  the  masses  that  such  display  is  unwise  and 
unnecessary,  it  would  be  the  beginning  of  that  enlighten- 
ment which  would  end  in  the  overthrow  of  the  autocracy 
of  the  Tsar  and  the  destruction  of  the  oppressive  bureau- 
cratic government. 

As  has  been  already  stated,  it  is  the  Tsar  who  is, 
naturally,  the  head  of  this  State  Church.  He  makes  all 
appointments  and  when  necessity  or  policy  demands, 
it  is  he  who  deposes  the  prelates  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest.  But  the  Tsar  does  not  interfere  with  the  deter- 
mination of  questions  relating  to  dogmatic  theology,  yet 
such  do  not  now  often  arise  in  a  Church  that  has  been 
established  for  so  long  and  has  safely  withstood  the 
vicissitudes  of  varying  fortune.  The  principal  ecclesias- 
tical authority  is  the  Holy  Synod,  whose  head  is  one  of 
the  chancelleries  possessing  wide  power. 

It  is  not  essential  that  I  dwell  at  length  upon  the 
services  in  the  Russian  Church.    They  are  elaborately 


RELIGION     AND     EDUCATION         251 

liturgical,  yet  not  essentially  different  from  those  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  although  some  are  much  longer,  as, 
for  example,  the  marriage  service.  In  this,  attendants 
are  supposed  to  hold  wreaths  over  the  heads  of  the  bride 
and  bridegroom  during  the  whole  ceremony.  As  no 
single  human  being  could  stand  the  physical  strain  which 
this  involves,  there  are  relays  of  attendants,  when  this 
feature  is  precisely  observed. 

Many  writers  have  given  currency  to  the  story  that 
every  Russian  who  dies  in  full  communion  with  the 
Orthodox  Church,  has  a  " passport"  to  Heaven  buried 
with  him.  This  came  from  the  fact  that  just  before 
the  coffin  is  closed  for  the  last  time  to  be  lowered  into 
the  grave,  the  priest  does  place  a  paper  in  it;  but  Clark  * 
shows  that  this  is  merely  a  certificate  that  the  deceased 
was  buried  with  proper  rites,  in  case  the  coffin  should  be 
opened  in  the  future. 

The  morals  of  the  Russian  clergy,  even  on  the  evidence 
of  native  writers,  leave  much  to  be  desired.  They  are 
notoriously  underpaid,  and  in  the  country  districts  very 
frequently  one  priest  is  assigned  to  two  or  more  parishes. 
Sometimes  the  churches  are  far  apart  and  the  tramp  from 
one  to  the  other,  to  minister  to  half-a-dozen  peasants,  is 
shirked  shamelessly.  Then,  too,  many  of  the  country 
priests  are  dreadful  drunkards,  for  habitual  intoxication 
is  not  a  disgrace  to  a  Russian  cleric,  because  to  "  treat 
the  little  pope"  is  considered  an  honour  by  the  peasants. 
In  the  Russian  Church  the  parish  priests  are  married; 
the  bishops  are  unmarried.  Elevation  to  a  bishopric  is 
not  in  the  line  of  promotion.  A  priest  who  has  lost  his 
wife  may  not  marry  again. 

There  is  one  part  of  the  Russian  Church  which  im- 

*See  Bibliography. 


252       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

presses  most  favourably  all  who  hear  it.  That  is  the 
music.  Rarely  —  I  think,  never  —  is  there  any  instru- 
mental accompaniment  to  the  singing.  I  have  never 
heard  any.  Yet  so  well  chosen  are  the  voices,  and  so 
well  balanced  are  they  in  the  cathedrals  and  large 
churches,  that  the  men's  voices  produce  on  the  listeners' 
ears  the  effect  of  the  most  consummate  pipe-organ  music. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  music  in  the  cathedral  at  Suruga- 
dai,  in  Tokyo;  the  singing  of  the  hundreds  of  Russian 
prisoners  at  the  small  church  in  Kyoto,  and  the  other 
times  I  have  listened  to  this  solemn  music. 

In  theory  any  religion  may  be  professed  by  a  Russian 
subject,  and  the  following  list  of  religious  denominations 
and  membership  tends  to  show  that  this  theory  is  put 
into  practice : 

Orthodox  Greek  87,123,600 

Dissenters  2,204,600 

Armenian  Gregorians     1 , 1 79, 240 

Armenian  Catholics  38,840 

Roman  Catholics  11,468,000        Poles  and  Lithuanians 

Lutherans  3,572,650  )   Esthonians,  Western  Finns, 

Reformed  85,400  )   Germans,  and  Swedes 

Baptists  38,140 

Mennonites  66,500 

Anglicans  4,180 

Other  Christians  3, 950 

Karaite  Jews  12,900 

Jews  5,215,800 

Mahommedans  13,907,000     Tax^rs{r  Bashkirs;  Kirghiz> 

°'v  "  Turkomans,  etc. 

Buddhists  433,860 

Other  non-Christians        285,300 

Total     125,640,000 

The  Dissenters  demand  some  careful  considerations. 
A  comparatively  small  number  of  these  differ  from  the 
true  faith  in  such  minor  essentials,  that  they  are  not 
considered  to  be  without  the  pale.     A  few  of  the  sects 


RELIGION    AND    EDUCATION         253 

are  even  granted  the  privilege  of  interment  in  consecrated 
ground;  that  is,  the  cemeteries  set  apart  for  Orthodox 
Churchmen. 

But  the  Raskolniks  —  the  name  comes  from  the  word 
raskol,  which  means  schism  —  are  not  only  looked  upon 
as  heretics;  but  they  have  been  subjected  to  great  per- 
secution. Their  reason  for  being,  their  development, 
and  their  history  are  interesting  and  may  be  briefly 
summarised  thus:  As  is  always  the  case  with  liturgical 
religious,  the  literature  of  the  Russian  Orthodox  Church 
came  to  show  inaccuracies  and  inconsistencies  in  various 
texts,  because  of  copyists'  mistakes,  and  through  inter- 
pellations of  commentators  that  could  not  receive  the 
endorsement  of  all  prelates.  There  was  inevitable  con- 
fusion, and  shortly  before  the  accession  of  Peter  the 
Great,  it  was  decided  to  have  one  complete  and  revised 
copy  of  the  Scriptures  and  commentaries,  as  well  as  of 
all  Church  literature,  prepared,  which  should  be  the 
standard  for  all;  and  —  in  the  expectation  and  hope  of 
the  revisers  —  for  all  time. 

The  work  was  begun  in  1654  and  conscientiously 
prosecuted,  receiving  the  personal  support  of  Peter, 
while  he  reigned  conjointly  with  his  brother  Ivan,  from 
1682,  and  alone  from  1696.  Within  human  limitations, 
the  task  was  well  performed.  But  there  arose  the  in- 
evitable fierce  opposition  to  the  so-called  tampering 
with  the  sacred  writings.  Ignorant,  or  prejudiced 
people  stood  out  hotly  for  the  inerrancy  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures;  or  demanded  that,  at  any  rate,  what  had 
been  must  continue  to  be. 

When  Peter  and  the  Holy  Synod,  which  he  had  then 
established,  insisted  upon  the  Church  receiving  the 
corrected  and  revised  texts,  these  protestants  withdrew 


254       RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE    AND     ASIA 

from  the  Orthodox  Church,  and  were  called  Raskolniks 
(some  explain  the  etymology  of  this  as  ras,  asunder,  and 
kolot,  to  split) .  They  were,  at  first,  most  harshly  treated ; 
punishments  of  the  most  drastic  kind  were  inflicted ;  while 
many  were  exiled  to  Siberia.  This  last  punishment,  it  may 
be  said,  has  been  for  Siberia's  great  benefit,  for  some  of  the 
best  of  that  country  is  due  to  the  industry  of  Raskolniks. 

At  the  present  time  these  "Old  Believers,"  as  they  call 
themselves,  are  to  be  found  —  for  the  most  part  —  in 
the  country.  They  are  usually  quiet,  peaceful  citizens, 
although  all  of  them  do  not  differ  from  the  average 
Russian  by  abstaining  from  the  use  of  vodka.  Tobacco 
they  abominate.  When  Peter  the  Great  asked  them  if 
smoking  were  worse  than  vodka,  the  reply  was:  "Cer- 
tainly, for  is  it  not  written  'not  that  which  goeth  into 
the  mouth  defileth  a  man;  but  that  which  cometh  out 
of  the  mouth,  this  defileth  a  man?'" 

They  assert  that  with  Peter  I  commenced  the  dominion 
of  Antichrist  over  the  world.  They  execrate  his  name 
with  that  of  Nikon,  the  patriarch  who  was  deposed;  but 
they  revere  the  memory  of  Paul  of  Colonna,  who  dis- 
sented from  the  revision.  Although  they  are  devoted  to 
the  Tsar,  it  is  to  the  Tsar  with  whom  they  are  familiar  in 
ancient  pictures;  not  the  reigning  monarch,  the  head  of 
the  detested  Orthodox  Church. 

These  Raskolniks  are  divided  into  two  principal  sects: 
Popovshchina,  who,  as  the  prefix  popo,  pope,  father, 
priest,  implies,  have  reverted  in  so  far  as  they  permit  the 
ministrations  of  priests;  Bezpopovshchina  (without 
priests),  who  are  the  most  remarkable.  Each  man  is  a 
priest  unto  himself,  although  they  choose  "elders"  who 
are  allowed  to  conduct  something  akin  to  services  when 
they  gather  in  numbers. 


RELIGION    AND    EDUCATION         255 

In  the  homes  of  some  of  these  dissenters,  there  are  pre- 
served most  interesting  and  quaint  relics  of  old  times: 
copies  of  writings  which  are  to  these  Old  Believers  abso- 
lutely unintelligible;  icons  that  bear  the  marks  of  great 
antiquity,  and  other  kindred  treasures  that  are  most 
jealously  guarded.  These  people  are  found  in  great 
numbers  throughout  the  White  Sea  provinces;  a  region 
which  is  reasonably  safe  for  them,  because  its  desolation 
is  not  popular  with  the  police.  Their  only  sacrament  is 
baptism,  which  any  man  is  competent  to  perform.  But 
their  elders  hear  confessions.  They  are  not  evangelical 
in  the  Western  sense  of  the  word,  because  they  observe 
fasts,  adding  some  of  their  own  to  those  which  the 
Orthodox  Church  recognises.  They  have  the  greatest 
faith  in  the  efficacy  of  many  crossings,  in  doing  which 
they  consider  it  a  mortal  sin  to  use  three  fingers  instead 
of  two.  They  hold  that  to  pronounce  the  name  of  Jesus 
in  three  syllables,  I-e-sus,  instead  of  I-sus,  is  a  deadly  sin 
which  even  the  fires  of  Hell  cannot  purge,  and  the  monks 
of  Solovetsk  defied  Tsar,  patriarch,  and  council  for  seven 
years  about  this  matter.  They  likewise  are  continually 
prostrating  themselves  before  icons,  crosses,  and  anything 
that  they  consider  sacred. 

Inevitably,  these  schismatists  became  themselves 
divided.  I  do  not  know  that  I  could  name  and  describe 
all  the  extraordinary  subdivisions,  even  if  I  wished  to  do 
so.  I  shall  mention  only  a  few  of  the  most  remarkable. 
There  are  the  Philippovsti,  who  take  their  name  from 
one  Philip,  who  burnt  himself  for  Christ's  sake  in  1743. 
They  exalt  self-immolation  into  a  principle.  One  minor 
branch  was  found  to  carry  this  to  such  an  extreme  that 
they  dug  a  deep,  large  pit,  lined  it  with  firewood  and 
dried,  inflammable  pine-branches.     Then  a  number  of 


256       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

these  maniacs,  divesting  themselves  of  all  clothing, 
leapt  into  the  pit,  with  their  own  hands  set  fire  to  the 
surrounding  fuel,  and  joined  in  the  singing  of  the  on- 
lookers until  unable  to  do  so  longer.  The  police  had 
much  difficulty  in  preventing  these  voluntary  holocausts, 
and  I  am  not  sure  these  have  been  absolutely  stopped 
even  now. 

The  Stranniki  (pilgrims  as  the  name  implies)  wander 
over  the  land,  and  seem  to  secure  a  comfortable  living 
from  the  kind-hearted  and  superstitious  peasants.  The 
Byeguni  (runners)  claim  to  interpret  literally  Our  Lord's 
words,  Matt.  X:  33  and  following  verses.  They  run 
from  others;  they  reject  legal  marriage,  and  are  despic- 
able in  every  way.  The  Nyetovsti  (deniers)  deny  the 
necessity  for  common  worship,  and  consequently  refuse 
to  recognise  any  priestly  ministrations.  The  Molchaly- 
niki  (mutes)  maintain  such  absolute  silence  that  no 
torture  can  make  them  utter  a  word. 

The  most  disgraceful  of  the  miscalled  religious  sects 
is  the  Khlistovstchina,  the  Jumpers  or  Flagellants.  It 
was  founded  by  one  Daniel  Philippov  on  Mount  Goro- 
dim,  in  the  province  of  Vladimir,  in  1645.  He,  blasphe- 
mously arrogating  to  himself  God-like  prerogatives, 
designated  one  Ivan  Suslov  to  be  "My  beloved  Son,  in 
whom  I  am  well-pleased."  Suslov  selected  a  "Virgin 
Mother"  and  twelve  apostles.  The  adherents  of  this 
sect  declare  that  this  man  was  twice  crucified  and  once 
flayed  alive;  yet  he  "rose  from  the  dead."  He  finally 
died  in  1716,  designating  one  Prokopi  Lupkin  to  be  the 
Saviour;  and  in  every  generation  since  his  time,  there 
have  been  a  Christ  and  a  Virgin  Mother.  Indeed  the 
extremists  of  this  cult  contend  that  every  person  must 
try  to  become  one  or  the  other.     For  full  account  of  the 


RELIGION    AND    EDUCATION         257 

immoral  and  promiscuous  orgies  of  this  sect,  I  refer  the 
reader  to  Haxthausen's  "The  Russian  Empire."  I  do  not 
care  to  give  them  here.  Although  a  secret  order,  they 
profess  to  belong  to  the  Orthodox  Church;  but  this  is 
manifestly  impossible. 

In  contradistinction  to  the  last  mentioned  sect  are  the 
Skoptsi  (eunuchs  by  self-mutilation).  They  are  a  reac- 
tion from  the  gross,  promiscuous  immorality  of  the 
Khlistovtchina.  Nearly  all  of  the  goldsmiths,  silver- 
smiths, and  jewellers  of  Moscow  and  many  other  cities 
belong  to  this  strange  sect.  They  marry  and  adopt 
children.  The  members  bear  a  good  reputation  for 
industry,  honesty,  and  charity.  The  most  important 
article  of  their  faith  is  that  Christ  never  did  and  never 
could  have  died.  He  wanders,  sexless,  like  unto  Gau- 
tama Buddha,  and  assuming  different  human  form  in 
various  places  on  earth.  He  will  come  again  soon  and 
cause  the  great  bell  of  Uspenski  Sobor,  Moscow,  to  be 
rung  to  summon  the  faithful  who  will  with  Him  inaugu- 
rate their  everlasting  empire  over  all  the  world.  They 
call  themselves  Korablik,  "a,  tiny  vessel  tossing  on  the 
waves,"  and  sing  hymns  which  are  appropriate  to  this 
sentiment. 

But  I  must  leave  these  curious  religious  sects  and  close 
with  a  very  short  discussion  of  the  present  system  of 
education.  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the  statement  is 
perfectly  true  that  previous  to  the  Revolution  of  1905, 
but  little  progress  had  been  made  in  Russia  as  regards 
general  education.  By  this  I  do  not  mean  that  there 
were  no  such  things  as  common  or  private  schools. 
Even  in  the  time  of  Catherine  II  (the  Prussian  princess 
who,  as  widow  of  Peter  III  and  Empress  of  Russia, 
reigned   1762-1796)   there  were  in  Moscow,  certainly, 


258       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

and  elsewhere,  some  good  school  buildings  and  teachers. 
But  there  were  no  pupils! 

One  of  Her  Majesty's  favourites,  probably  someone 
who  had  travelled  abroad  and  had  come  to  appreciate  the 
benefits  of  general  education,  complained  that  nobody 
sent  his  children  to  school.  Whereupon  Catherine 
retorted:  "Don't  you  worry  yourself  because  the  Rus- 
sians seem  to  have  no  desire  for  education.  If  I  have 
opened  schools,  it  was  not  done  for  the  benefit  of  our 
own  people.  It  was  to  make  a  good  appearance  before 
the  rest  of  Europe,  with  whom  we  must  maintain  our 
prestige.  But  the  day  when  our  peasants  find  themselves 
able  to  get  all  the  education  they  may  wish,  neither  you, 
my  friend,  nor  I  will  keep  his  place!" 

There  are  many  reasons  given  for  the  absence  of  every- 
thing approximating  in  the  past  to  our  ideas  of  general 
education.  The  Russian  people,  even  those  of  the  upper 
classes,  were  afraid  of  the  natural  sciences;  they  still 
clung  strangely  to  the  notion  that  these  were  uncanny, 
even  when  applied  to  technical,  useful  purposes.  Above 
the  lowest  grade  of  schools,  there  was  a  determination  to 
keep  education  as  the  privilege  of  the  upper  classes, 
and  even  the  wealthy  bourgeois  was  looked  at  askance 
by  the  nobles  when  he  sought  too  much  learning  for  his 
children. 

Catherine's  public  schools  had  long  disappeared,  and 
the  last  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  witnessed,  in 
Russia,  a  relapse  into  the  Dark  Ages,  so  far  as  general 
education  was  concerned.  The  Ministers  of  Public 
Instruction  ruthlessly  suppressed  all  effort,  public  or 
private,  to  give  even  a  little  education  to  the  usually 
illiterate  classes.  The  percentage  of  illiterates  in  the 
Russian  Empire  is  appalling  even  now,  although  there  are 


RELIGION     ANDEDUCATION 


259 


no  reliable  statistics  available  since  the  improvement 
began  after  1905.  But  since  there  can  hardly  have  been 
a  radical  change  in  six  or  seven  years,  it  will  be  interesting 
to  consider  the  statistics  of  1897. 


Per  100  inhabitants 

Per  100  of  popula- 
tion of  those  over 
nine  years  of  age 
and  of  both  sexes 

Males 

Females 

Of  both  sexes 

European  Russia 
Poland 
Caucasus 
Siberia 
Central  Asia 

67.4 
65.8 
81.8 
80.8 
92.I 

86.3 

73-2 
94.0 
94.9 
97-8 

77.I 

69-5 
87.6 

87.7 
94-7 

70 

59 
83 
84 
93 

Empire 

70.6 

86.9 

78.9 

72 

The  less  illiterate  provinces  of  European  Russia  are :  — 
Esthonia  (Baltic)  20.1  illiterates  in  100  of  population; 
Livonia  (Baltic)  22.3;  Courland  (Baltic)  29.1;  St. 
Petersburg  44.9;  the  other  provinces  average  more  than 
50  illiterates  to  each  100  of  population.  But  it  must  be 
stated  that  in  some  of  the  districts  in  Central  Asia, 
specifically  in  the  governor-generalship  of  Turkestan, 
there  are  entire  subdivisions  where  the  population  is 
almost  exclusively  Mohammedan.  In  not  a  few  of 
these  over  50  per  cent  of  the  adults  can  read;  and 
rarely,  in  such  districts,  does  the  percentage  of  illiterates 
run  as  high  as  70  or  75  per  cent. 

I  am  correct,  I  believe,  in  saying  that  there  are  no 
private  schools  in  Russia.  To  permit  such  to  be  con- 
ducted would  go  directly  against  the  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment, who  even  now  will  not  tolerate  the  gathering 
together  of  more  than  three  or  four  persons  —  children 
or  adults  —  without  special  police  permission  being 
previously  secured  for  each  separate  meeting,  at  which 
a  representative  of  the  government  must  also  be  present. 


260       RUSSIA     IN    EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Even  an  entertainment  in  a  private  house  must  not 
exceed  the  statutory  number,  except  by  permission. 
Consequently,  it  is  inconceivable  that  a  private  school 
could  be  carried  on  from  day  to  day. 

Besides,  the  published  statistics  show  that  the  schools 
of  the  whole  empire  are  under  the  direct  control  of  one 
or  another  of  the  Ministers  of  State.  Most  of  them  are, 
of  course,  supervised  by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion; and  for  the  purposes  of  ordinary  education,  the 
empire  is  divided  into  fifteen  educational  districts,  St. 
Petersburg,  Moscow,  Kazan,  Orenburg,  Kharkoff,  Odessa, 
Kieff,  Vilna,  Warsaw,  Riga,  Caucasus,  Turkestan,  West 
Siberia,  East  Siberia,  and  the  Amur. 

A  good  many  —  in  fact  nearly  all  —  of  the  primary 
schools  are  under  the  management  of  the  Holy  Synod, 
to  which  body  the  whole  appropriation  for  primary 
instruction  is  handed  for  the  maintenance  of  parish 
schools  taught  by  the  white,  or  secular,  clergy.  These 
parish  schools  under  the  Holy  Synod  are  divided  into 
two  classes  or  grades:  parish  schools  proper  and  schools 
of  a  low  order  in  which  nothing  more  than  reading  is 
taught.  The  teachers  in  these  schools  —  both  divisions 
—  pass  no  examination  as  to  qualification,  their 
certificates  being  nothing  but  the  permission,  written  or 
verbal,  of  the  local  bishop.  Inasmuch  as  the  village 
priests  are  engrossed  in  their  parochial  duties,  they  find 
but  little  time  to  give  to  the  school.  When  they  do 
attend  the  work  is  done  in  a  half-hearted,  perfunctory 
way.  Very  often  the  reported  attendance  represents 
" paper"  only;  or  if  not  this,  the  pupils  are  taught  by 
half-educated  teachers,  choir-masters,  or  anybody  who 
can  be  hired  for  a  pittance. 

One   good   feature   of   the   Russian  primary   school, 


RELIGION     AND     EDUCATION         261 

however,  is  that  in  many  of  the  villages  there  is  a  practi- 
cal garden  or  field.  Bee-keeping  is  now  taught  in  about 
one  thousand  of  these  schools.  In  three  hundred,  silk- 
worm culture  is  taught;  in  some  nine  hundred,  some 
useful  trade;  and  in  three  hundred,  the  Finnish  sloid 
system  of  manual  training  is  installed.  Girls  are  taught 
domestic  science  and  handiwork  in  many  schools. 
About  one  half  the  teachers  in  these  primary  schools  are 
women. 

The  total  expenditure  for  this  primary  education  was 
fifty  million  roubles  in  1900;  and  probably  that  figure 
represents  the  expenditure  for  each  year  since;  20%  was 
furnished  by  the  State,  23%  by  the  zemstvos,  352%  by 
the  municipalities  or  villages,  n|%  by  private  persons. 

The  next  higher  grade  of  schools  —  called  Middle 
Schools  —  are  supported  by  a  system  of  contributions 
practically  the  same  as  that  followed  with  the  primary 
schools.  These  middle  schools  combine  the  work  done 
in  the  upper  classes  of  American  Grammar  Schools  and 
the  lower  classes  of  the  High  Schools;  25%  of  the  ex- 
penses of  these  classical  and  technical  schools  is  provided 
by  government,  30%  by  fees  and  by  donations  from  the 
zemstvos,  the  municipality  making  up  the  balance. 

While  there  has  been  some  progress  in  general  educa- 
tion during  the  last  seven  years,  still  the  Russian  lower 
classes  and  the  peasantry  have  not  displayed  any  un- 
seemly precipitancy  or  overcrowding  in  their  desire  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  offered.  That 
statement  does  not  apply  unqualifiedly  to  the  institu- 
tions which  give  the  highest  education. 

In  the  universities,  for  example,  the  attendance  is 
large.  The  standard  here  is  high,  quite  comparable 
with  that   of  the  German  universities.    The  students 


262        RUSSIA    IN     EUROPE    AND     ASIA 

work  hard;  harder,  by  a  great  deal,  than  does  the  average 
American  or  English  university  undergraduate.  Nearly 
all  of  the  Russian  university  students  come  from  homes 
wherein  poverty  exists  of  a  kind  that  is  scarcely  known 
in  this  country  among  the  classes  that,  even  for  a  moment, 
contemplate  such  a  thing  as  higher  education.  They 
must  therefore  live  in  a  way  that  cannot  furnish  the 
nutriment  required  by  that  healthy  body  which  is  sup- 
posed to  harbour  a  sound  mind.  It  is  by  no  means  a 
ridiculous  conclusion  that  other  observers  besides  myself 
have  reached:  that  something  of  the  character  which 
marks  so  many  acts  of  the  Russian  students  towards 
the  Government  and  officials,  is  chargeable  to  intense 
study  overtaxing  an  under-nourished  body  until  the 
brain  almost  gives  way;  and  not  infrequently  violent 
dementia  appears. 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  get  from  a  Russian  student 
an  expression  of  opinion.  He  knows  too  well  the  risk 
he  runs  of  opening  his  heart  to  a  government  spy  who  is 
more  than  ready  to  hand  him  over  to  cruel  justice  (?)  and 
to  use  every  word  he  may  utter  to  incriminate  his  friends. 
In  my  own  case,  I  admit  frankly  that  the  few  students  I 
met  quietly  but  firmly  refused  to  have  anything  to  say 
about  the  aims  and  methods  of  their  fellows  who  are 
struggling  for  fair  treatment  for  all.  My  acquaintances 
were  glad  to  talk  about  education  as  an  academic  subject, 
and  all  of  them  admire  American  technical  methods. 

In  1904  there  were  only  nine  universities  in  the  whole 
Russian  Empire :  that  is  one  for  every  million  square  miles 
or  more.  In  the  British  Isles  there  is  a  university  for 
every  eight  thousand  square  miles.  It  is  not  easy  to 
give  such  ratio  for  the  United  States,  because  it  is  some- 
what difficult  to  determine  precisely  the  number  of  educa- 


RELIGION     AND     EDUCATION         263 

tional  institutions  which  correspond  even  approximately 
with  the  European  idea  of  an  university.  As  to  popula- 
tion, in  the  Russian  Empire  there  is  one  university  for 
every  sixteen  million  people;  in  the  British  Isles,  one 
for  every  million  and  a  quarter.  But  such  a  comparison 
is  entirely  misleading  because  of  the  utter  lack  of  homo- 
geneity in  Russia's  case. 

In  those  nine  universities  of  1904  there  were  nearly 
twenty  thousand  students:  over  two  thousand  to  each. 
At  Oxford  the  number  of  undergraduates  averages  nearly 
four  thousand  a  year;  at  Cambridge  very  few  less  than 
that;  and  at  Edinburgh,  something  over  three  thousand. 
Here,  again,  due  consideration  must  be  given  to  local 
conditions. 

Besides  these  universities,  there  were  in  Russia  six 
medical  schools  (one  of  them  for  women),  six  theolog- 
ical seminaries,  six  military  academies,  five  philological 
institutes,  three  Eastern  languages  schools,  three  law 
schools,  four  veterinary  schools,  four  agricultural  colleges, 
two  schools  of  mines,  four  engineering  schools,  two  uni- 
versities for  women  (the  one  in  St.  Petersburg  had  930 
students),  three  practical  pedagogy  schools,  ten  technical 
schools,  one  forestry  school,  and  one  topographical 
school.  Pretty  nearly  every  one  of  the  Departments  of 
State  has  its  own  special  educational  institution,  and  in 
all  the  schools  of  every  class  and  kind  there  has  been 
growing  activity  since  1903.  But  it  is  not  along  lines 
that  we  Americans  can  heartily  approve.  Catherine  II 's 
apprehension  is  still  a  vital  factor  in  Russia  —  in  Europe 
more  than  in  Siberia.  The  bureaucrats,  the  grand  dukes, 
the  Tsar  himself,  dread  the  time  when  the  people  of  All 
the  Russias  are  educated;  and  well  they  may,  for  it 
spells   their  downfall.     Siberia  has  presented  us  with 


264       RUSSIA    IN    EUROPE    AND     ASIA 

examples  of  a  tendency  towards  civil  liberty.  It  became 
so  pronounced  that  the  suffrage  has  been  withdrawn 
from  some  of  the  districts.  That  theory  of  "the  nearer 
the  Tsar,  the  greater  the  danger"  may  yet  work  out  to 
such  a  degree  that  there  will  be,  in  the  near  future,  A 
Coming  Siberia  which  shall  command  the  respect  of 
nations. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

FLORA    AND  FAUNA 

WHENEVER  one  of  the  small  stations  (and  our 
train  stopped  at  every  one  of  them)  was  near 
the  village  church  and  time  permitted  us  to  take  a  little 
walk,  I  noticed  that  the  peasants  and  settlers  seemed 
to  be  fond  of  decorating  their  churches  and  chapels  with 
bunches  of  garden  or  wild  flowers.  So  common  was 
this,  that  I  was  reminded  of  Canada,  that  is,  the  eastern 
provinces  of  the  Dominion,  where  the  French  Roman 
Catholics  do  so  much  of  the  same  thing,  and  I  found 
myself  involuntarily  looking  for  the  wayside  shrines 
that  are  so  frequent  in  Quebec  and  Ontario,  and  which 
are  so  regularly  decorated  with  some  summer  wild 
flowers  in  a  vase  or,  maybe,  just  stuck  in  a  bottle.  In 
Russia,  I  was,  of  course,  disappointed  in  this  matter; 
yet  I  came  to  believe  that  the  peasants  of  that  country 
have  a  true  love  for  wild  flowers. 

On  the  tundras  and  in  the  regions  where  the  Sa- 
moyedes  and  Chukchees  live,  there  are  reindeer,  arctic 
fox,  hare,  wolf,  and  lemming,  while  field-mice  are  com- 
mon. The  avifauna,  however,  is  very  numerous  during 
the  short  summer;  for  there  are  many  migratory 
water-birds,  marsh-fowls  and  land  birds.  There  are  but 
five  kinds  of  resident  land  birds,  and  their  names  are  so 
commonly  known  that  it  will  at  once  be  seen  they  are 
not  peculiar  to  Siberia:   the  ptarmigan,  the  snow  bunt- 


266      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

ing,  the  Iceland  falcon,  the  snow-owl,  and  the  raven. 
As  some  of  these  are  predaceous,  one  wonders  what 
they  do  for  food  in  the  long  winter,  when  the  small 
animals  have  hibernated,  and  the  summer  visitors 
flown  away. 

On  the  shores  of  Lake  Baikal  throughout  the  entire 
summer,  many  seal  of  a  peculiar,  fresh-water,  land- 
locked variety  are  killed  for  their  pelts,  and  inasmuch 
as  little  discretion  in  this  slaughter  is  required  by  the 
authorities,  there  is  great  danger  that  these  animals 
will  speedily  disappear  entirely.  The  skins  of  these 
Baikal  seal  do  not  figure  at  all  in  the  markets  where 
seal-skins  are  bought  for  garments;  they  are  used  en- 
tirely for  tanning  and  the  leather  is  made  up  into  boots, 
bags,  and  a  thousand  useful  or  ornamental  articles. 

The  seal  fishery  of  Eastern  Siberia  and  its  islands, 
having  over  13,000  miles  of  coast,  is  an  important 
source  of  revenue  to  the  Russian  Government;  but 
it  has  been  —  as  we  know  well  —  a  constant  cause  of 
disputes  with  the  United  States  and  Japanese  authori- 
ties that  have  sometimes  grown  into  almost  international 
proportions.  As  an  industry  this  subject  has  been  dis- 
cussed elsewhere.  Besides  several  varieties  of  seals 
found  along  these  shores,  there  are  also  walrus,  dol- 
phins, sea-otter  (once  very  common,  but  now  extremely 
rare),  and  innumerable  kinds  of  fish.  Bears  feed  upon 
the  fish  that  fairly  abound  in  the  many  fiords,  bays, 
and  bights.  After  a  storm  the  shores  are  often  strewn 
with  fish,  piled  up  till  they  form  a  wall  several  feet 
high  and  many  feet  thick. 

The  rivers  and  lakes  of  practically  the  whole  of 
Siberia  are  well  supplied  with  fish,  as  the  traveller  by 
train  realises,  to  his  great  satisfaction,  when  his  train 


FLORA     AND     FAUNA  267 

makes  a  long  halt  at  one  of  the  many  good  "buffet" 
stations  about  meal- time;  for  he  then  learns  that  "fish- 
chowder"  is  a  palatable  dish  not  restricted  to  America. 
In  the  flat  country  west  of  Tomsk  and  all  the  way  to 
the  European  border,  where  the  streams  are  remark- 
ably sluggish,  there  are  many  ponds  as  well  as  lakes 
of  considerable  size.  In  all  of  these  waters  —  the  lakes 
particularly  —  there  are  many  fish,  pike,  carp,  bream 
(akin  to  our  sun-fish,  but  larger  and  better  for  food), 
perch,  and  others.  They  afford  sport  of  a  kind  to  those 
seeking  it  and  a  welcome  supply  of  food  to  the  residents. 
From  one  of  these  lakes,  Chany  —  between  Tomsk  and 
Omsk  —  over  fifteen  tons  of  fish  are  taken  each  year. 
In  this  region,  however,  there  are  no  true  game  fish 
and  the  act  of  catching  them  is  tame  sport.  Elsewhere, 
in  some  of  the  mountain  streams,  there  are  active  fish 
that  rise  to  a  fly,  yet  even  the  best  of  these  are  not 
very  gamey  when  hooked.  The  Russian  fisherman, 
it  seemed  to  me,  measures  his  sport  rather  by  the  quan- 
tity taken  than  by  the  struggle  required  to  land  his 
catch. 

Nature  has  apparently  indulged  in  some  curious 
vagaries  in  her  distribution  of  animals  through  certain 
parts  of  Siberia.  We  are  accustomed,  I  think,  to  asso- 
ciate the  camel  with  latitudes  near  the  equator,  and  as 
"  the  ship  of  the  desert"  to  picture  it  in  the  sandy  regions 
of  Arabia  and  northern  Africa.  Our  children,  who 
had  seen  camels  used  as  beasts  of  burden,  only  at  Aden 
and  Port  Said,  were  much  surprised  to  find  the  animal 
similarly  employed  at  various  places  along  the  Siberian 
railway,  and  often  harnessed  into  carts.  Yet  it  has 
become  thoroughly  acclimated;  tramps  over  the  snow 
in  winter  as  readily  as  over  the  desert  sands  of  the 


268      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

Sahara,  the  pads  of  its  feet  being  harder  than  those  of 
other  species,  so  that  it  is  fitted  to  bear  the  changes 
in  the  soil  caused  by  rain  or  drought.  In  winter  it  not 
only  lives  but  thrives  on  the  leaves  and  twigs  of  the 
willow  and  birch.  The  owners  are  proud  of  their 
possession  and  are  said  to  be  very  careful  and  consid- 
erate, the  animals  requiting  kindness  in  kind.  It 
belongs  to  the  Bactrian  or  two-humped  species  and  is 
found  throughout  the  region  lying  to  the  north  and  east 
of  that  inhabited  by  the  dromedary,  from  the  Black 
Sea  to  China,  and  northward  to  Lake  Baikal. 

Another  seeming  whim  of  Nature  is  the  Manchurian 
tiger,  which  is  found  throughout  the  eastern  regions 
up  to  the  Amur  River;  north  of  that  it  is  not  seen,  I 
believe.  The  Koreans,  the  people  of  the  Maritime 
Province,  the  natives  of  northern  Manchuria,  eastern 
Mongolia,  and  the  Amur  valley,  are  dreadfully  and 
justly  afraid  of  this  beast.  Not  many  years  ago,  one 
was  killed  within  the  limits  of  Vladivostok  city.  It  is 
the  royal  Bengal  tiger,  and  shows  surprisingly  little  vari- 
ation from  its  prototype  because  of  change  in  environ- 
ment. It  is  often  poisoned  with  strychnine  by  natives 
in  various  places,  but  this  method  of  killing  totally 
spoils  the  skin  for  decorative  purposes.  "There  is 
great  difficulty  experienced  in  hunting  the  animal,  as 
there  are  no  elephants  or  shikaris*  It  is  next  to  im- 
possible to  get  within  shot  safely  in  summer,  but  in 
winter  when  the  grass  is  down,  the  tracks  are  followed 
in  the  fresh  snow,  and  each  season  two  professional 
trappers  of  Nikolsk  get  four  or  five  in  this  way.  Its 
range  is  from  far  south  to  within  a  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  of  Nikolaievsk  at  the  mouth  of  the  Amur,  thus 

*  The  Indian  hunter  or  beater. 


FLORA     AND     FAUNA  269 

practically  over  the  whole  of  the  Ussuri  district  as  well 
as  in  Manchuria." 

The  animals  of  Russia's  Central  Asian  provinces  do 
not  differ  greatly  from  those  of  western  Siberia.  The 
camel  and  the  dromedary  are  more  common  as  domesti- 
cated animals,  and  there  is,  besides,  a  wild  camel  in  the 
Ala-Shan,  but  this  is  not  yet  very  well  known.  The  tiger 
is  not  often  seen,  save  in  the  lower  Amu-Daria  country. 
In  the  Himalayas  there  are  some  distinct  animals,  and 
in  the  Pamir  plateau  there  is  a  magnificent  mountain 
sheep,  which  may  have  been  the  ancestor  of  our  common 
sheep,  and  is,  perhaps,  a  cousin  to  our  Rocky  Moun- 
tain sheep.  Prejevalsky  discovered  the  wild  horse 
(described  as  Equus  prejevalskii  by  Polyakoff)  in  the  high- 
lands of  Dzungaria.  Bear,  antelope,  Siberian  ibex,  the 
yak,  the  zebu,  wild  boar,  and  a  long  list  of  other  animals 
make  up  the  abundant  fauna  of  these  provinces.  Birds 
and  insects  are  innumerable. 

From  what  has  been  said  and  suggested,  it  will  be 
clear  that  in  many  parts  of  Russia's  vast  possessions 
in  Asia  there  is  yet  a  good  deal  for  the  naturalist  to 
do,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  sportsman  will  enjoy 
himself.  The  true  lover  of  sport  will,  I  fancy,  not  be 
anxious  to  adopt  the  local  method  of  Siberia,  and  will 
agree  with  Mr.  Gerrare's  comment  thereon:  "The  com- 
mon method  of  hunting  is  that  of  the  '  surround,'  as 
in  Russia.  In  the  autumn  there  will  be  several  great 
drives  organised  by  the  army  officers  with  several  regi- 
ments as  beaters.  As  many  carry  their  rifles,  and  on 
sighting  the  game  fire  volleys,  there  is  hardly  sufficient 
sport  to  give  the  proceedings  a  name."  Even  in  the 
extreme  north-east  corner  of  Asia,  along  the  Okhotsk 
Sea  and  in  the  Kamschatka  Peninsula,  there  is  lots  of 


270      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

sport,  reindeer,  musk-ox,  roebuck,  etc.;  while  birds  are 
innumerable. 

In  somewhat  the  same  way  as  the  Siberian  fauna  is 
segregated  by  the  zoologist  into  sundry  broad  latitud- 
inal belts,  so  the  flora  is  likewise  differentiated  by  the 
botanist;  only  that,  in  the  latter  case,  it  is  customary 
to  consider  these  belts  as  being  four  in  number:  the 
true  arctic  region,  the  sub-arctic  or  coniferous  region,  the 
Altai  and  Daurian  mountain  regions,  and  the  Eastern 
Chinese  region  which  extends  northward  into  that  part 
of  Siberia  belonging  in  the  Amur  basin.  For  my  pur- 
pose, however,  there  must  be  added  to  the  last  of  those 
divisions  the  Maritime  Province,  east  of  Manchuria; 
and  there  should  be  a  sixth,  that  of  the  Central  Asian 
provinces. 

It  is  but  natural,  in  the  existing  circumstances,  and 
having  due  regard  to  the  development  of  the  earth,  to 
expect  the  full  breadth  of  the  continent  to  be  well 
wooded  throughout  the  whole  of  the  second  belt,  the 
sub-arctic  or  coniferous  regions;  and  it  probably  was  at 
one  time;  for  even  now  the  forests  cover  from  one-half 
to  the  whole  of  the  ground,  according  to  locality  and 
obeying  certain  local  natural  laws.  In  many  places 
the  forests  have  not  yet  been  touched,  and  they  are 
unbroken  save  where  a  bald  mountain  peak  pushes  up 
through  the  verdure.  But  then,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  are  hundreds  of  square  miles  where  the  magnificent 
trees  have  been  wantonly  felled  and  left  to  rot,  just  to 
effect  a  little  clearing.  The  science  of  forest  conserva- 
tion is  but  little  understood  in  Siberia  and  it  is  prac- 
tised hardly  at  all. 

South  of  the  broad  line  of  demarcation  between 
tundra  and  tree  belt  wherein  the  conifers  are  a  farce, 


FLORA     AND     FAUNA  271 

the  first  conspicuous  tree  is  the  birch.  Beginning  as 
a  puny  dwarf,  it  rapidly  increases  in  size  and  importance 
towards  the  south,  until  along  the  railway  one  frequently 
sees  miles  of  stacks  of  crossties  cut  from  this  tree;  the 
wood  shimmers  in  the  sunlight  like  white  satin.  Still 
farther  south  in  the  timber  belt  are  oak,  elm,  hazel, 
apple,  lime,  and  maple.  These  disappear  towards  the 
east,  but  are  found  again  in  the  mountains  that  border 
the  edge  of  the  great  plateau.  Nowhere,  perhaps,  is 
the  change  better  seen  than  on  crossing  the  Great 
Khingan. 

Still  farther  east,  in  the  Amur  region,  there  are  a 
great  number  of  new  species  of  European  trees,  and 
even  some  new  genera  are  met  with  that  are  not  found 
in  Europe  at  all.  There  are  cork-trees,  walnut,  acacia, 
a  graceful  climber,  and  others  not  to  be  seen  in  central 
Siberia.  The  larch  predominates  over  all  conifers  on 
the  high  plateaus,  and  the  Scotch  fir  is  also  well  known. 
From  eastern  Manchuria,  on  the  railway  fine,  until 
well  towards  the  coast,  the  forest  trees  are  large  and 
abundant. 

Everywhere,  almost  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  Siberia,  in  the  widest  acceptation  of  the  word,  there 
are  berry- yielding  plants  in  abundance:  the  red  whortle- 
berry or  cowberry,  the  swamp  whortleberry,  bilberry, 
the  arctic  bramble  found  far  inland,  raspberries,  both 
red  and  black  currants:  all  of  these  form  luxuriant 
undergrowth.  As  has  been  intimated,  in  the  spring  and 
early  summer  wild  flowers  fairly  cover  the  ground  with 
brilliant  colours.  In  the  Far  East,  the  most  beautiful 
lilies  are  so  plentiful  as  to  be  a  nuisance  to  the  farmer, 
while  his  intended  meadow  is  so  likely  to  be  invaded  by 
flowering  plants  in  such  numbers  that  the  grass  makes 


272      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

poor  fodder.  In  the  Khingan  Mountains  the  edelweiss 
carpets  the  slopes  even  more  thoroughly  than  it  does 
in  the  Alps. 

I  have  made  no  attempt  to  transcribe  the  list  of 
animals,  birds,  and  insects  that  are  found  in  Siberia; 
nor  have  I  pretended  to  enumerate  the  trees  and  plants. 
What  I  have  written  will,  I  think,  be  sufficient  to  show 
that  a  considerable  part  of  the  country  is  far  from  being 
the  abomination  of  desolation  that  many  imagine  it  to 
be;  and  I  confess  that  before  I  crossed  the  continent  of 
Asia  by  the  trans-Siberian  Railway,  the  word  " Siberia" 
connoted  the  very  acme  of  that  which  is  bleak  and 
lonely,  with  here  and  there,  at  long  intervals,  dreary 
settlements  for  convicts  and  exiles  who  had  to  be  fed 
with  provisions  brought  from  a  distance.  I  do  not 
even  now  wish  my  readers  to  think  that  Siberia  is  an 
attractive  place  for  intelligent  settlers. 


CHAPTER  XX 

CONCLUSION 

THIS  chapter  is  in  the  nature  of  an  Afterword, 
because  it  has  been  written  since  the  rest  of  the 
book  was  in  print.  The  apprehension  expressed  in 
preceding  pages,  that  Russia's  plan  of  action  in  the 
Far  East  does  not  give  comforting  assurance  of  lasting 
peace  in  that  part  of  the  world,  seems  to  be  confirmed. 
The  public  press  gives  precise  information  of  a  defensive 
alliance  between  Russia  and  Japan,  which  will  probably 
be  signed  by  its  negotiator,  the  Japanese  Ambassador 
at  the  Russian  Court. 

Prince  Katsura's  departure  from  Japan  on  his  way 
to  Europe  by  way  of  the  trans-Siberian  Railway, 
doubtless  meant  that  this  statesman  was  to  conclude 
whatever  formalities  were  necessary  to  determine  the 
pact  between  his  Imperial  Master  and  the  Russian  Tsar; 
and  probably  Katsura  was  vested  with  plenary  power 
to  sign  the  treaty  for  the  Japanese  Emperor.  But  the 
alarming  news  of  the  serious  condition  of  Emperor 
Mutsuhito's  health,  and  his  almost  certainly  impending 
death,  which  sad  event  occurred  on  July  30,  191 2, 
necessitated  the  return  of  Katsura;  although  he  may 
have  had  sufficient  time  in  St.  Petersburg  to  finish  the 
preliminaries  and  perhaps  sign  the  treaty. 

Yet  the  treaty  was  concluded,  and  it  is  intended  to 
delimit  the  spheres  of  influence  of  Russia  and  Japan 


274      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

in  Mongolia  and  Manchuria.  In  other  words,  these 
two  trespassers  upon  Chinese  territory  will  almost  surely 
be  found  to  have  entered  into  an  agreement  to  support 
each  other  in  carrying  out  plans  which  cannot  but  be 
inimical  to  China's  welfare.  Furthermore,  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  any  agreement  of  this  nature 
between  Russia  and  Japan  means  that  both  those  dis- 
tricts, Mongolia  and  Manchuria,  parts  of  China's 
sovereign  domain,  are  to  be  kept  closed  indefinitely 
against  all  " intruders,"  in  which  category  Russia  classes 
all  the  world,  except  herself  and  not  excepting  Japan, 
so  far  as  the  whole  of  Mongolia  and  the  northern  part  of 
Manchuria  are  concerned;  while  Japan  returns  the  com- 
pliment by  including  Russia  with  all  the  rest  of  the  world, 
among  those  whom  she  purposes  to  exclude  from  South- 
ern Manchuria  and  all  the  other  sections  of  the  Chinese 
Empire  over  which  she  hopes  to  secure  control,  possibly 
through  the  moral,  financial,  and  military  assistance 
which  this  treaty  of  defensive  alliance  will  confer. 

Once  more  I  am  compelled  to  admit  that  I  have  been 
deceived  by  the  act  of  these  two  Powers,  Japan  and 
Russia.  It  seemed  as  if  Japan  had  been  brought  to 
see  that,  in  the  game  of  diplomacy,  she  could  not  trust 
Russia,  whose  wiliness  is  so  selfish,  and  that  all  of  her 
best  interests  would  be  served  by  co-operating  with 
America  and  Great  Britain  in  furthering  China's  wel- 
fare. But  it  is  evident  that  Japan  considers  Russia  a 
better  ally  than  any  other  Power,  and  that  her  own 
selfishness  is  to  be  the  determining  factor.  I  cannot 
help  asking  myself  the  question:  will  Japan,  by  this 
alliance,  make  it  absolutely  certain  that  Russia's  plans 
for  expansion  will  never  include  her  own  island  empire? 

It  is  not  a  condition  of  affairs  which  holds  promise 


CONCLUSION  275 

of  real  and  abiding  peace  in  the  Far  East.  Looking 
past  the  terms  of  the  treaty  itself  so  far  as  we  are  in- 
formed about  them,  there  is  manifest  to  all  outside, 
yet  interested,  observers,  a  disposition  to  foment  trouble 
in  China,  and  to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  consummation 
of  the  plans  of  Chinese  statesmen  for  the  establishing 
of  the  Republic  of  China  on  a  broad,  firm,  enduring 
basis. 

The  second  part  of  the  treaty  of  defensive  alliance 
between  Russia  and  Japan  is  said  to  provide  for  assist- 
ance to  be  given  by  the  other  party  thereto  in  the  event 
of  either  party  being  attacked,  in  the  Far  East,  of 
course.  That  is  to  say,  should  China  succeed  in  quell- 
ing the  disturbances  which  now  exist  in  various  parts 
of  that  country,  in  readjusting  her  finances,  in  estab- 
lishing full  power  at  home,  and  in  securing  the  moral 
support  abroad  needed  to  help  her  perfect  all  these 
conditions,  she  will  ere  long  be  in  a  position  to  serve 
notice  upon  both  Russia  and  Japan  that  they  must 
vacate  the  Chinese  territory  they  now  occupy  unlaw- 
fully. 

I  must  repeat  here  what  has  been  said  already  about 
Japan's  tenure  in  Manchuria.  By  a  treaty  made  be- 
tween Russia  and  China,  on  March  27,  1898,  supple- 
mented and  confirmed  by  a  convention  concluded  a 
little  later  between  the  Russian  Government  and  the 
Chinese  Minister  at  St.  Petersburg,  Russia  secured  a 
lease  of  the  Liaotung  Peninsula  for  twenty-five  years, 
or  until  1923.  Japan  fell  heir  to  whatever  privileges 
(and  —  speaking  of  territory  —  only  such  privileges) 
that  agreement  conferred,  by  the  terms  of  the  Treaty 
of  Portsmouth,  1905,  between  Russia  and  Japan;  the 
terms  of  which  treaty  China,  for  reasons  that  are  well 


276      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

known  to  everybody,  was  compelled  to  acquiesce  in. 
Japan  calls  this  Manchurian  jurisdiction,  Kwangtung 
Province. 

Neither  Russia  nor  Japan  ever  gained  legitimately 
from  China  any  territorial  rights  beyond  the  Peninsula; 
for  the  right  to  protect  the  railways  with  military  guards 
did  not  carry  with  it  any  privilege  of  occupying  terri- 
tory, although  the  right  has  been  most  shamelessly 
exercised,  especially  by  Russia. 

By  treaty,  then,  China  has  the  right  to  evict  Japan 
from  Manchuria  in  less  than  eleven  years  from  this 
time,  191 2.  Besides,  China  has  the  right  to  purchase 
all  Russian  and  Japanese  railways  in  Manchuria  in 
1939,  upon  payment  of  all  outlays  made  by  either 
Russia  or  Japan.  Such  outlays  will  be  difficult  to  assess, 
and  doubtless  a  pretty  bit  of  arbitration  and  evaluation 
would  be  required.  Even  if  the  existing  conditions 
and  treaties  remain  unchanged,  in  1983  all  those  rail- 
ways, with  all  their  appurtenances  and  belongings, 
should  any  exist,  revert  to  China  without  any  com- 
pensation whatever  to  Russia  or  Japan. 

But  I  am  thinking  of  a  rehabilitated,  a  strong  China; 
a  nation  that  is  in  a  position  to  assert  its  sovereign 
rights,  and  I  cannot  help  believing  that  the  recovery 
of  full  autonomy  in  Manchuria  and  Mongolia  will  be 
one  of  the  first  ambitions  of  China.  She  may  denounce 
the  treaty  which  gave  Russia  a  semblance  of  right  to 
the  occupation  of  Liaotung,  and  by  virtue  of  which 
Japan  is  now  in  possession;  declare  the  convention  and 
agreement  invalid  because  they  were  secured  through 
improper  pressure  originally,  and  continued  without 
adequate  compensation,  and  serve  notice  to  vacate  her 
territory;  backing  up  the  demand  with  military  display. 


CONCLUSION  277 

Such  notice  will  be  ignored  by  both  Russia  and  Japan, 
and  then  may  come  an  "attack"  upon  one  or  the  other 
of  them  to  compel  restoration  of  China's  rights.  It  is 
for  just  such  contingency  that  the  alliance  between 
Russia  and  Japan  has  been  negotiated.  It  is  not  likely 
that  Great  Britain  will  "attack"  either  one  of  those 
countries  in  the  Far  East;  but  if  England  and  Russia 
come  to  blows  on  the  Afghanistan  frontier  or  in  northern 
Persia,  Japan  will  be  in  a  peculiarly  embarrassing  situa- 
tion.   Which  ally  will  she  support? 

The  alliance  can  hardly  be  directed  against  Germany. 
It  may  be  that  America's  friendship  for  China  has,  in 
the  eyes  of  these  Russo-Japanese  allies,  gone  too  far, 
and  that  they  have  joined  hands  to  resist  further  aggres- 
sion. Yet  this,  too,  seems  improbable  and  the  conclu- 
sion appears  to  be  unescapable  that  it  is  China  against 
whom  Russia  and  Japan  are  in  open  alliance.  Only 
why  call  it  "defensive"? 

I  do  not  look  with  satisfaction  upon  the  apparent 
calm  that  has  existed  for  some  months  in  northern 
Persia.  It  is  too  consistent  with  Russian  methods  and 
British  apathy  to  be  reassuring.  At  any  moment  we 
are  likely  to  hear  that  Russia  has  gone  quietly  on  per- 
fecting her  plans  for  expansion  and  absorption  in  that 
region;  and  the  British  Government  may  wake  up 
some  morning  to  be  told  that  the  "frontier  question" 
has  been  pushed  far  to  the  south,  and  that  Russia  has 
established  herself  so  firmly  as  to  make  the  way  to  the 
head  of  the  Persian  Gulf  open  to  her.  Complications 
may  be  increased  by  a  trespass  upon  what  Germany 
looks  upon  as  her  "preserves";  but  this  obstacle  will 
be  overcome  in  some  way. 

However,   let  us  assume   that  Russia  perfects  her 


278      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

plans  for  securing  a  "protectorate"  in  Mongolia  and, 
with  the  assistance  of  her  confirmed  ally,  Japan,  makes 
her  position  in  northern  Manchuria  one  of  permanent 
occupation  instead  of  tenancy  on  sufferance,  there  will 
then  be  a  much  greater  Siberia  and  Russia  in  Asia  for 
us  to  contemplate,  and  the  advantages  to  accrue  to 
Russia  are  immense.  It  is  not  likely  that  Japan  will 
grant,  even  to  her  ally,  the  privilege  of  establishing  an 
independent  and  exclusive  naval  station  somewhere  on 
the  coast  of  Korea  Bay,  say  the  mouth  of  the  Yalu 
River,  or  that  of  Liaotung  Gulf;  but  it  would  hardly 
be  the  friendly  act  of  an  ally  to  refuse  her  associate  the 
full  facilities  for  a  fitting-out  station  that  Port  Arthur 
may  afford.  Russia  would  be  grateful  for  even  so  much, 
and  with  it  she  would  be  content  for  the  present,  or 
until  she  has  turned  the  Wheel  of  Time  so  that  she  gets 
quite  all  she  wishes. 

If  the  way  is  opened  to  the  Persian  Gulf  and  if,  as  is 
reasonably  certain,  a  satisfactory  arrangement  is  made 
which  permits  of  Russia  and  Japan  using  conjointly  the 
railways  from  Tairen  to  Harbin,  there  will  be  even 
greater  possibilities  for  a  Coming  Siberia  than  now 
exist.  It  must  be  for  some  time,  however,  an  import- 
ing Siberia;  because,  as  I  think  has  been  pretty  well 
shown,  Siberia  cannot  be  a  great  exporting  country  for 
may  years  to  come,  except  in  lumber,  minerals,  and 
perhaps  a  few  other  articles  that  are  procurable  or 
manufactured  in  excess  of  home  consumption. 

Yet  it  is  clear  that  Russia's  first  and  greatest  ambition 
is  expansion  in  Asia.  This  must  strike  most  observers 
as  being  rather  a  senseless  policy,  for  already  her  pos- 
sessions in  that  continent  are  so  immense  and  so  un- 
wieldy that  her  capacity  to  manage  and  develop  them 


CONCLUSION  279 

is  altogether  overtaxed.  With  scarcely  an  exception, 
there  is  not  a  government,  province,  or  dependent 
state  which  is  now  being  administered  in  a  manner  that 
ensures  the  possibilities  in  economics  and  material 
output  of  which  the  district  is  capable. 

It  has  been  shown  that  Russia  has  not  in  her  European 
dominions  a  surplus  population  upon  which  to  draw 
for  emigrants  needed  to  colonise  satisfactorily  those 
millions  of  square  miles  which  she  now  owns  or  "  pro- 
tects'' in  Asia.  Where  there  is,  in  European  Russia, 
a  suggestion  of  congestion  in  the  resident  population, 
the  character  of  the  possible  surplus  is  not  of  the  kind 
that  the  Government  wishes  to  send  into  Siberia. 

Little  is  being  done  by  the  Russian  Government  to 
popularise  any  part  of  the  Siberian  provinces  in  the 
eyes  of  farmers  and  industrialists  from  other  parts  of 
Europe.  The  feeling  which  finds  vocal  expression  in 
"the  nearer  the  Tsar,  the  greater  the  danger,"  tends 
to  deter  the  peasants  of  all  countries  from  seeking 
homes  in  even  the  most  attractive  parts  of  Siberia; 
and  the  constant  nagging  interference  of  the  Govern- 
ment will  always  prevent  foreign  investors  from  effort 
to  exploit  the  promising  industries. 

Russia  would,  no  doubt,  be  glad  to  have  more  Chinese 
and  Koreans  settle  within  her  borders,  and  the  evidence 
is  conclusive  that  lately  there  have  been  attractive 
inducements  held  out  to  them;  but  the  former  are  not 
yet  prepared  to  overlook  the  episodes  in  the  Amur 
Valley  and  along  the  Irkutsk  frontier;  while  the  latter 
have  simply  given  up  hope  of  being  any  better  off  than 
they  now  are,  so  that  emigration  fails  to  hold  attraction 
for  them. 

The  policy  of  the  Russian  Government  towards  the 


280      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

United  States  has  shown  itself  in  the  recent  pronounce- 
ment of  the  farmers  to  discard  American  agricultural 
machinery  and  implements.  This  movement  is  not 
spontaneous  with  the  farmers  themselves;  it  is  some- 
thing that  they  are  doing  because  they  are  ordered  to 
do  so  by  the  officials.  The  Russian  peasants  have 
been  trained  from  time  immemorial  not  to  take  the 
initiative  in  such  matters;  and  this  lack  of  initiative 
has  now  become  such  a  marked  trait  in  their  character, 
that,  to  one  who  has  seen  them  in  their  homes,  it  is 
inconceivable  that  they  could  think  of  establishing  a 
boycott  against  American  agricultural  implements  or 
anything  else.  It  was  a  most  difficult  matter  to  compel 
them  to  give  up  their  antiquated  methods  of  tilling  the 
soil  and  harvesting  their  crops,  and  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  valuable  assistance  which  American  implements 
conferred.  What  little  had  been  done  in  this  way  of 
substituting  good  for  bad  was  due  entirely  to  the  per- 
sistent, mandatory  effort  of  government  officials.  The 
apparent  revulsion  of  feeling,  and  the  attempt  to  secure 
similar  implements  from  other  sources  (this,  it  may 
safely  be  affirmed,  cannot  be  done  economically),  is  to 
be  attributed  to  the  same  official  influence. 

The  information  which  has  come  to  hand  of  activity 
in  straightening  the  trans-Siberian  Railway,  cutting 
down  grades,  double-tracking  the  line  from  Moscow  to 
Irkutsk,  and  increasing  and  improving  the  rolling-stock, 
is  remarkable  evidence  of  a  determination  to  make 
this  property  available  in  every  way;  whether  it  be 
peaceful  expansion  and  development,  or  military  ag- 
gression. The  work  has  already  brought  about  a 
reduction  of  at  least  one  day  in  the  schedule  time  be- 
tween Moscow  and  Vladivostok. 


CONCLUSION  28l 

The  work  of  laying  the  second  track  has  not  been 
completed  in  the  western  section,  Moscow  to  Irkutsk, 
but  it  is  so  well  in  hand  that  attention  is  now  being 
given  to  the  eastern  half,  from  Irkutsk  through  to 
Vladivostok.  I  have  no  reliable  source  to  which  to 
turn  for  information  as  to  Russia's  right  to  double-track 
the  line  across  northern  Manchuria,  and  from  Harbin 
south  to  the  junction  with  the  Japanese  railway  at 
Chang-chun;  that  is,  in  Chinese  territory.  I  think, 
however,  that  nothing  is  said,  one  way  or  the  other,  in 
the  permission  which  China  reluctantly  gave  to  the 
construction  of  these  lines. 

In  any  case,  Russia  is  going  ahead  to  do  just  what 
she  wishes,  and  if  it  seems  good  to  the  Tsar  and  his 
Cabinet,  the  Minister  of  War  and  the  High  Commissioner 
for  the  Study  of  all  Points  of  View  of  the  Railways 
especially,  to  double  those  Manchurian  lines,  it  will 
be  done  at  Russia's  convenience  and  without  taking 
the  trouble  to  obtain  permission  from  Peking. 

The  Kalgan  Railway,  if  it  is  not  actually  in  running 
order  at  this  moment,  will  probably  be  open  for  traffic 
before  this  volume  is  in  the  hands  of  readers.  It  gives 
Russians  quick  access  to  the  Chinese  capital,  and 
tightens  the  grip  of  Russian  diplomatists  upon  the 
Chinese  Foreign  Office.  When  the  " protection"  of 
Mongolia  is  assured,  it  cannot  be  long  before  the  much- 
talked-of  line  from  the  trans-Siberian  Railway  via 
Kiahkta  to  Peking  will  be  taken  in  hand  and  pushed 
rapidly  to  completion.  In  all  such  matters,  the  develop- 
ment of  Siberia  may  safely  be  said  to  be  progressing. 

Before  closing,  it  may  be  interesting  to  my  readers 
to  learn  that  the  former  Crown  Prince  of  Japan,  now 
Emperor  Yoshihito,  is  rather  more  inclined  to  be  influ- 


282      RUSSIA     IN     EUROPE     AND     ASIA 

enced  by  German  diplomacy  and  statecraft  than  by 
either  Russian  or  British.  He  understands  German  quite 
well,  and,  if  I  am  correctly  informed,  speaks  the  lan- 
guage. He  may  know  something  of  English,  but  he 
would  never  talk  with  me  in  that  tongue,  although  I 
have  met  him  several  times.  I  doubt  if  he  knows 
anything  about  Russian. 

He  is  a  thorough  militarist  and  since  he  has  ascended 
the  throne  there  is  not  much  likelihood  of  a  change  in 
the  rather  assertive  policy  of  his  Government.  Beyond 
a  certain  sentimental  regard  for  the  United  States  of 
America,  because  of  what  she  has  done  in  the  past  and 
continues  to  do  in  civilisation  and  educational  matters, 
and  a  wholesome  respect  for  Americans'  plentitude  of 
dollars,  Emperor  Yoshihito,  like  his  father,  gives  little 
consideration  to  America,  because  of  an  assumed  con- 
tempt for  the  democratic  ideas  which  govern  in  that 
land.  What  his  imperial  name  will  be,  and  how  he 
will  designate  his  reign,  may  be  known  to  himself  and 
the  advisers  who  are  closest  to  him,  but  it  would  be 
contrary  to  Japanese  rule  —  and  superstition  —  to 
divulge  them  before  the  new  emperor  succeeds.*  It  may 
be  that  the  present  close  relations  between  Russia  and 
Japan  will  not  be  so  powerful  since  this  young  Emperor, 
who  is  now  only  thirty-three  years  of  age,  has  suc- 
ceeded. I  imagine  that  the  Russian  Court  would  much 
prefer  to  have  had  the  late  emperor  recover  his  health 
and  hold  the  reins  of  government  for  many  years  to 
come,  than  to  have  had  Prince  Yoshihito  crowned  im- 
mediately. 

*  These  have  been  determined.  The  era  name  is  to  be  Taisho,  vari- 
ously translated,  but  ''Great  Righteousness"  is  as  good  as  any. 


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Travels  in  Bokhara.     Sir  A.  Barnes,  London,  1834. 
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sky,  London,  1904. 
The  Russian  Empire  and  Czarism.     Victor  Berard,  tr.,  1905. 
The  Russian  Advance.     Albert  J.  Beveridge,  New  York,  1903. 
Borderland  of  Czar  and  Kaiser.     Poultney  Bigelow,  New  York, 

1895. 
The  Life  of  Yakoob  Beg.    Demetrius  Charles  Boulger,  London, 

1878. 
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1904. 
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the  First,  Russia,  Tartary,  and  Turkey.     Edward  Daniel 

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houn,  New  York,  1900. 
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The   Hon.   George    Nathaniel  Curzon,  M.  P.   (now  Baron 

Curzon  of  Kedlestone),  London,  1889.     [Contains  excellent 

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Journal  of  De  Lange.    London,  1715. 

Sixteen  Years  in  Siberia:  some  experiences  of  a  Russian  Revolu- 
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London,  1891. 
Siberia  as  it  is.     Introduction  by  Mme.  Olga  NovikofT.     Harry 

De  Windt,  London,  1892. 
Buried  Alive;  or  Ten  Years  of  Penal  Servitude  in  Siberia.     Fedor 

Dostoyeffsky,  New  York,  1881. 
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London,   181 5. 
Russia  Through  the  Stereoscope.    M.  S.  Emery,  New  York,  1901. 
Slav  or  Saxon.     William  Dudley  Foulke,  3rd.  ed.  New  York,  1904. 
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1902. 
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1907. 

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INDEX 


INDEX 


Aborigines  of  Siberia,  188. 

Academy  of  Science,  29. 

Acquisition  of  territory,  33. 

Administration  of  economic  af- 
fairs, 25. 

Afghanistan,  209,  222. 

Afterword,  273. 

Agriculture  in  Russia,  71. 

Albazin,  190. 

Alexander  I,  14,  236. 

Alexander  II,  14,  240. 

Alexis,  Peter  the  Great's  son,  13. 

Alliance,  Russo-Japanese,  191 2, 
273;  its  objects,  277. 

Almanac  de  Gotha,  18. 

American  intervention,  Russo- 
Japanese  war,  1905,  242. 

Amir  of  Bokhara,  210. 

Amur  River  or  Valley,  61,  181. 

Angara  River,  150. 

Anglo-Russian  relations,  245. 

Animals  of  Central  Asia  Provinces, 
269. 

Anne,  14. 

Architecture,  97. 

Asia,  Russia  in,  11. 

Attack  on  British  India,  proposed, 
214. 

Austria,  233. 

Author's  acquaintance  with  Russia, 

3- 
Avifauna,  263. 


Baikal,  Lake,  75;  seals  of,  266. 

Baku,  137. 

Baltic  Provinces,  27,  48. 

Basil,  Saint,  44. 

Batoum,  137. 

Bee-Keeping,  143. 

Bell  of  Moscow,  "Tsar  Kolokol," 
98. 

Bells,  treatment  of,  37,  99. 

Berries  in  Siberia,  271. 

Bezpopovshchina,  "no-priest"  re- 
ligious dissenters,  254. 

Bismarck,  Prince,  240. 

"Black"  clergy,  29. 

Black  Sea,  213. 

"Black  Soil,"  143. 

Bokhara,  219. 

Boulger,  D.  C,  190. 

Boundaries  of  Russia,  64. 

"Boxer"  episode,  6,  199. 

Boyars,  38. 

British  complacency,  226. 

British  Government  and  India, 
277. 

British  India,  213,  214. 

Brutal  treatment  of  criminals, 
former,  162. 

Budantsar,  Mongol  progenitor,  39. 

"Bunco,"  126. 

Buriats,  80,  147. 

Byeguni,  religious  "runners,"  256. 

Byzantine  rulers,  46. 


296 


INDEX 


Cabinet,  Tsar's,  31. 
Camel,  Siberian,  267. 
Cannon,  great,  Moscow,  98. 
Cantonal  assemblies,  24. 
Capital  punishment,  162. 
Caravans,  184,  185. 
Cars  for  colonists,  157. 
Catering  along  Siberian  railway, 

125. 
Catherine  I,  14,  196. 
Catherine  II,  235;  her  schools,  258. 
Caucasus,  244. 
Census  statistics,  151. 
Central  Asia,  65,  74,  203,  208,  211; 

animals,  269;  railway,  220. 
Chang  Chih-tung,  198. 
Chasles,  M.,  21. 
Cheliabinsk,  101. 
China,    61,    65,    187,    191,    276; 

Russian  designs  on,  7. 
China- Japan  war,  1894-5,  241. 
Chinese  Eastern  railway,  65. 
Chinese  in  Russia,  279. 
Chita,  107. 
Chukchees,  79,  82. 
Chun,  Prince,  198. 
Chung-how,  ambassador,  199. 
Church  services,  231. 
Churches  in  Siberia,  265. 
Circuits  or  districts,  32. 
Cities,  Russian,  22. 
Clarke,  Edward  Daniel,  170. 
Climate,  Siberian,  139. 
Colonisation,  incentive  to,  146. 
Colquhoun,  Archibald  R.,  222. 
Communal  assemblies,  24. 
Communism  in  Russia,  58. 
Conditions  in  penal   settlements, 

163. 
Coniferous  trees,  131. 


Constantinople,  238. 

Construction  of  Siberian  railway, 
124. 

Convicts  and  exiles,  161. 

Cossacks,  49,  152;  harass  Napo- 
leon's army,  53;  like  American 
frontiersmen,  50;  mountain, 
53;  Zaporogian,  52. 

Council  of  empire,  28,  30. 

Courts  of  cassation,  29. 

Crimean  war,  218. 

Criminal  codes,  161. 

Crossing  Siberia,  8. 

Cultivable  land,  141,  160. 

Curzon,  George  N.,  11,  207,  223. 

Custom  Houses,  Russian  and 
Chinese,  79. 

Dagmar,  Princess,  Tsarina,  12. 

Dairy  products,  84. 

Dardanelles,  213. 

Dauria,  Amur,  189. 

Death  of  Japanese  emperor,  273. 

De  Lange,  secretary  of  embassy, 

Peking,  192. 
Deserts,  Gobi  and  Dzungaria,  182, 

184. 
De  Windt,  H.,  161. 
Difficulty  in  getting  off  "beaten 

tracks,"  no. 
Diplomatic  relations,  Russia  and 

China,  196;   Russia  and  Japan, 

199. 
Display      in       cathedrals       and 

churches,  249. 
Dissenters,  religious,  252. 
Districts  or  Circuits,  32. 
Diversity  of  physical  features,  66. 
Dmitri  Donskoi,  17,  42,  43. 
Dmitri  of  Vollhynia,  17. 


INDEX 


297 


Dmitri,  the  boy    56;    his  assassi- 
nation, 57. 

Domestic,  national,  troubles,  243. 

Don  Cossacks,  53. 

Donetz  River,  135. 

Dorpat,  university  of,  28. 
>  Double-tracking  Siberian  railway, 
280. 

Droshky,  95 ;  driver,  96. 

Duma,  20,  22,  28,  29. 

Durov,  poet,  103. 

Dzungaria,  65,  184,  185. 

"Eastern  Question,"  the,  235. 

Eastern   Three    Provinces,    Man- 
churia, 178. 

Eastern  Turkestan,  65. 

Economic    affairs,    administration 
of,  25. 

Education,  260. 

Elder,  "Volostnoi  starshina,"  24. 

Elizabeth,  14. 

"Emperor  and  Autocrat,"  20. 

Emperor  Mutsuhito's  death,  273. 

Emperor  Yoshihito,  281. 

Equal  chance  in  Manchuria,  180. 

Esthonia,  48. 

Ethnological  research  of  political 
exiles,  172. 

Eurasians,  156. 

Europe,  Russia  in,  11;  physical,  68. 

European  civilisation,  effect  upon 
Siberia,  82. 

Eviction  of  Russia  and  Japan  from 
Manchuria,  277. 

Exiles,   ethnological   research   by, 
172. 

Exiles  and  convicts,  161. 

Expense  of  litigation  during  Mon- 
gol rule,  41. 


Farming  methods,  142. 

Fauna,  265. 

Feodor,  56. 

Finland,  26;  "strike"  in,  26. 

Finns,  early  settlers  in  Russia,  15. 

First  impressions  of  Vladivostok, 

3- 

Fish  in  Siberia,  266;   in  European 

Russia,  15. 
Fletcher,  Dr.  Giles,  70. 
Flora,  265;  segregation  of,  270. 
Flour-mills  at  Harbin,  108. 
Forced  colonists,  155. 
Forest  preservation,  Siberia,  131. 
Forests,  271. 
Forts,  frontier,  149. 
Franchise  in  Russia,  the  electoral, 

22. 
Free  colonists,  154. 
French  diplomacy,  239. 
"Fundamental  laws,"  20. 
Fur- trade,  55. 

Game,  fish,  267;  "surrounds,"  269. 
Gatschina,  13. 
Gedymin,  47. 
Genghiz  Khan,  40. 
Gentile  organisation,  58. 
Geographical  divisions,  67. 
Geok  Tepe,  205. 
Gerrare,  Wirt,  59,  67. 
Ghilyaks,  82. 
Gmina,  24. 
Gobi,  desert  of,  184. 
Godunoff,  Boris,  56. 
Gold,  136,  179. 
Golden  Horde,  the,  39. 
Gortchakoff,  Prince,  239. 
Government  obstruction  to  devel- 
opment, 132. 


298 


INDEX 


Government,  political  divisions,  32. 

Governors-general,  32. 

Grain  in  Siberia,  141. 

Grand  Prince,  35. 

Graphite  in  Siberia,  136. 

Great  Britain  on  Jews  in  Russia, 

89. 
Greater  Siberia,  278. 
Greek  Church,  the,  248. 

Hanseatic  League,  36. 

Harbin,  107;  flour-mills  at,  108. 

Hare,  Augustus  J.  C.,  165. 

Haxthausen,  Baron  von,  169. 

Hedin,  Sven,  184. 

Henning's  Chronicle  of  Livonia,  56. 

Heyking,  Baron,  on  Jews  in  Russia, 

90. 
Higher  schools,  263. 
Holy  Synod,  30. 
Hungarian  Insurrection,  238. 

Icons,  99,  255. 
Ill,  Kuldja,  197. 
Illiteracy,  259. 
Ilmen,  Lake,  15. 
Imperial  Council,  28. 
Independent  Principalities,  17. 
Intermarriage  in  Siberia,  83. 
Internal  dissension,  232. 
International     Sleeping-car     Co., 

121. 
Interpellation     of     Ministers     of 

State,  28. 
Irkutsk,  75,  105. 
Iron  mines,  134. 
Ismaloff,    ambassador   to    China, 

191. 
Ito,  Prince,  18. 
Ivan  III,  "The  Great,"  43,  44,  231. 


Ivan  IV,  "The  Terrible,"  43,  44, 

46,  56. 
Ivan  VI,  14. 

Japan,  18;  in  Liaotung  Peninsula, 

6. 
Japanese  Diet,    18;    government, 

18. 
Japanese-Russian    alliance,    191 2, 

273- 
Japanese    tenure    in    Manchuria, 

275. 
Jassy,  peace  of,  235. 
Jews  in  Russia,  85-93. 

Kalgan  railway,  229,  281. 

Kalka  River,  defeat  at,  38. 

Kamschadales,  82. 

K'ang-hi,  Chinese  emperor,  190. 

Katsura,  Prince,  273. 

Kazaks,  Cossacks,  51. 

Kennan,  George,  164. 

Khan  Kutchum,  63. 

Khiva,  207;  Khan  of,  210,  224. 

Khlislovstchina,  religious  jumpers 

and  flagellants,  256. 
Khokand,  220. 
Kiahkta,  61,  183. 
Kieff,  35. 

K'ien-lung,  Chinese  emperor,  193. 
Kizil  Takir,  207. 

Korabliks,  religious  dissenters,  257. 
Korea,  202,  242. 
Korean  settlements  in  Siberia,  5, 

279. 
Koreans,  Russia's  treatment  of,  4, 

279. 
Koryaks,  82. 

Kotzebue,  Augustus  von,  216. 
Kovalevski,  M.,  71. 


INDEX 


299 


Krasnoyarsk,  104. 

Kremlin,  The,  Moscow,  98,  100. 

Kronstadt,  32. 

Kropotkine,  P.  A.,  62,  166. 

Kuchuk-Kainarji,  treaty  of,   235. 

Kuldja,  111,  197. 

Kushik,  223. 

Kutchum,  Khan,  63. 

Kuznetzk,  149. 

Ladoga,  Lake,  15. 

Lakes,  Baikal,  150;  Ilmen,  15; 
Ladoga,  15. 

Land  birds,  265. 

Language,  the  Russian,  125. 

Liaotung  Peninsula,  Japanese  in, 
6,  65;   Russians  in,  241. 

Li  Hung-chang,  244. 

Lithuania,  4.7. 

Lithuano-Polish  princes,  232. 

Livonia,  48,  56. 

Local,  government,  23;  institu- 
tions, 25. 

"Lord  Novgorod  the  Great,"  37. 

"Lord's  Anointed,  The,"  46,  88. 

Magnificence  in  cathedrals  and 
churches,  249. 

Magnitnaia  Gora,  134. 

Mamai,  Tartar  leader,  17,  41. 

Mamakhas,  77. 

Manchuria,  "Eastern  Three  Prov- 
inces," 178,  179. 

Manchuria,  peoples,  80;  provinces, 
77;  Russians  in,  66. 

Manchuria  tiger,  268. 

Marine  products,  144. 

Merv  Oasis,  211. 

Methods  of  farming,  142. 

Milyoukov,  Paul,  166. 


Ministers  of  State,  interpellation 

of,  28. 
Mir,  definition  of,  23. 
Modern  empire,  17. 
Molchalyniki,  religious  mutes,  256. 
Mongol  historian,  S'sanang  S'set- 

zen,  40. 
Mongol  yoke,  41. 
Mongolia,  65. 
Mongols,    16,    38,    39;     capital, 

Sarai,  38;  domination,  17. 
Morals  of  Russian  clergy,  251. 
Moscow,  17,98;  Bell,  98;  Cannon, 

98;   expansion  of,  231;   nucleus 

of  Russian  empire,  37;  quarrels 

with  Novgorod,  38. 
Mountain  Cossacks,  53. 
Mukden,  114. 
Mullahs,  54. 
Music  in  Russian  churches,  252. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  214;  wars, 
236. 

Naturalist  in  Siberia,  269. 

Neighbours,  Siberia's,  175. 

Nerchinsk,  187. 

Nestor,  15. 

Nicholas  I,  14,  55,  238. 

Nicholas  II,  12. 

Nijni-Novgorod,  36. 

Norman,  Henry,  171,  245. 

Norsemen,  15. 

Novgorod,  17,  44. 

Novgorod-Seversk,  44,  45. 

Nucleus  of  Russian  empire,  Mos- 
cow, 37. 

Nyetovsti,  religious  "deniers," 
256. 

Obruchov,  General,  176. 


3°° 


INDEX 


Omsk,  103. 

"Open"  markets,  145. 

Origin  of  Christianity,  248. 

Parallelism,  Siberia  and  North 
America,  146. 

Passport,  115;  visa,  117. 

"Passport  to  Heaven,"  251. 

Paul,  215;  address  to  Cossacks, 
217. 

Peace  in  the  Far  East,  275. 

Peasant  colonists,  152;  emigrants, 
58;  present  condition,  159. 

Penal  settlements,  conditions  in, 
163. 

"Permanent  garrisons,"  175. 

Persia,  65,  207,  209;  episode 
(American),  1911-12,  225. 

Persian  Gulf,  Russia  at,  278. 

Peter  I,  "The  Great,"  13;  em- 
bassy to  China,  191,  234. 

Peter  III,  14. 

"Peter's  Pence,"  Russian  equiva- 
lent, 249. 

Petroleum,  137. 

Petropavlovsk,  103. 

Philippovsti,  religious  dancers,  255. 

Physical  Irkutsk,  75. 

Poland,  Russian,  27,  45,  47. 

Political  exiles,  their  researches, 
81. 

Political  lines  in  the  Far  East,  201. 

Polo,  Marco,  184. 

Popovshchina,  religious  dissenters, 

254- 
Portsmouth,    N.    H.,    U.    S.    A., 

treaty  of,  1905,  65. 
Portuguese  prisons,  167. 
Post-trains  Siberian  railway,  118; 

formalities,  122,  123,  126. 


Prast,  47. 

Pravitelstvuyushchi  Senat,  Ruling 

Senate,  29. 
Present  condition  of  peasants,  159. 
Preservation    of    forests,    Siberia, 

131. 
Primary  schools,  none,  259. 
Progress  in  education,  261. 
"Protection,"  145. 
Pskov,  36,  44. 

Quarrels    between    Moscow    and 
Novgorod,  38. 

Railway,    St.    Petersburg-Chelia- 
binsk,  direct,  102. 

Raskolniks,    religious    dissenters, 
252. 

Recent  events,  246,  277. 

Recommendation     to     travellers, 
114. 

Religious  denominations,  252. 

Revision  of  religious  books,  253. 

Rhenish  Confederation,  237. 

Rosen,  Baron,  author's  association 
with,  6. 

Rossya,  18. 

Routes  to  India,  233. 

Ruling  Senate,  Pravitelstvuyush- 
chi Senat,  29. 

Rurik,  House  of,  13,  15,  36,  $7. 

Rus,  Swedes,  15,  16. 

Russia,  agriculture  in,  71;  ambi- 
tions in  Asia,  278;  and  United 
States,  286;  area  in  Europe  and 
Asia,  11;  at  Persian  Gulf,  278; 
attitude  of,  9;  author's  wander- 
ings in,  9;  boundaries  of,  64; 
boycott  of  American  implements, 
280;  communism  in,  58;  designs 


INDEX 


301 


in  Asia,  11;  franchise  in,  22; 
fundamental  laws  of,  20;  gov- 
ernment of  provinces,  279;  in 
Manchuria,  66,  274,  276;  in 
Mongolia,  274,  276;  in  Siberia, 
84;  in  the  spring,  69. 

Russia  and  France,  214,  236. 

Russia  and  Great  Britain  in  Asia, 
246. 

Russian,  acquisition  of  territory, 
33;  designs  on  China,  7;  diplo- 
macy, 227,  230;  diplomacy  in 
Amur  Valley,  241;  empire, 
growth  of,  14;  expansion  in 
Central^Asia,  204;  "humanity" 
of  generals,  205;  language,  125; 
objection  to  Jews,  88;  opinion 
of  Americans  and  Englishmen, 
2;  peasants  in  Siberia;  towns, 
94;  treatment  of  Koreans,  4, 
279. 

Russian  Manchurian  railway,  108. 

Russian  Poland,  27. 

Russian  Volunteer  Fleet.,  112 

Russians,  author's  acquaintance 
with,  3;  in  Amur  Valley,  181. 

Russo-Japanese,  alliance,  191 2, 
273;  intercourse,  228. 

Russo-Japanese  war,  1904-5,  242. 

Russo-Turkish  alliance,  239. 

Ryazan,  44,  45. 

Saghalien,  32,  173. 

Saint  Basil,  249. 

St.  Petersburg,  94;    architecture, 

97- 
Samarkand,  219. 
Samoyedes,  73. 

Sarai,  Mongol  capital  in  Russia,  38. 
Scenery,  European  Russia,  68. 


Schools,  257. 

Science,  Academy  of,  29. 

Seal  fisheries,  266. 

Segregation  of  flora,  270. 

"Self-limited  monarchy,"  21. 

Shimonoseki  treaty,  China  and 
Japan,  241. 

Shops  in  Russian  cities,  97. 

Siberia,  32;  acquisition  of,  49; 
and  her  neighbours,  175;  an- 
cient population,  54;  changes 
in,  55;  conquest  of,  62;  crossing 
of,  8;  fish  in,  266;  intermar- 
riages in,  83;  native  tribes,  60; 
progress  in  acquisition  of,  60; 
Russian  settlements,  5;  settle- 
ment of,  56,  59;  soldier  colonists, 
147;    summary   of   acquisition, 

59- 

Siberiaks,  156. 

Siberian,  aborigines,  188;  borders, 
177;  camel,  267;  climate,  141; 
forest  preservation,  131;  fur- 
trade,  55;  grain,  141;  railway 
construction,  124;  timber,  130; 
voluntary  settlers,  51. 

Sineus,  15. 

Siromyatnikoff,  M.,  246. 

Skobeleff,  General  Mikhail,  203. 

Skoptsi,  religious  eunuchs,  257. 

Slav,  early  settlers,  15. 

Soldier  colonists  in  Siberia,  147. 

Sparse  population,  151. 

"  Spontaneous  infiltration,"  242. 

"Squatter's  Rights,"  158. 

S'sanang  S'setzen,  Mongol  his- 
torian, 40. 

Stanitsa,  24. 

Starosta,  elder,  24. 

State,  Council  of,  21. 


302 


INDEX 


Steamers,  Japan  to  continent,  112,       Uglich,  treatment  of  citizens,  57. 

Ugrian  stock,  83. 
Ukase  of  Oct.  30,  1905,  20,  21. 
Ukraine  District,  233. 


113,  120. 
Stranniks,  religious  pilgrims,  256. 
Streets  in  Russian  cities,  96. 
Strielitz,  152. 


Ulu,  24. 


Summary  of  Siberia's  acquisition,       "Underground  Railway,"  154. 


59- 
Syr-Darya,  176. 

Tao-kwang,  Chinese  emperor,  196. 

Tara,  148. 

Tarantass,  153. 

Tartars,  17,  40,  54. 

Tea-trade,  183. 

Textiles,  145. 

"The  Lord's  Anointed,"  46,  88. 

Tiger,  Siberian,  268. 

Tilsit,  treaty  of,  236. 

Timber  in  Siberia,  130. 

Timkowski,  Egor  Fedorovich,  195. 

Timour,  42. 

"Tips,"  2. 

Tomsk,  104. 

Tozi,  78. 

Transbaikalia,  76. 

Trans-Siberian  railway,  double- 
tracking,  281. 

Treatment  of  colonists,  157. 

Truvor,  15. 

Tsar,  head  of  Church,  250. 

Tsar  Kolokol,  great  bell  of  Mos- 
cow, 98. 

Tsardom  of  Muscovy,  17,  43. 

Tsar's  Cabinet,  31. 

Tumen  River  settlements,  179. 

Tundras,  71,  72,  265. 

Tunguses,  82,  149. 

Turkestan,  220;  Tartars  of,  54. 

Turkish  war,  1877-78,  240. 

Tver,  44. 


Universities,  261. 
Urmans  (bogs),  73. 

Valuable  stones,  136. 
Various  railway  connections,  113. 
Verkhne-Udinsk,  107. 
Village  churches,  265. 
Vladivostok,    58,    177;     first   im- 
pressions of,  3;   population,  77. 
Volost,  24. 

Volostnoi-starshina,  elder,  24. 
Voluntary  settlers  in  Siberia,  51. 
Vyatka,  36. 

Wallace,  D.  Mackenzie,  168. 
Wanderings  in  Russia,  9. 
Western  Siberia,  72. 
Wheat  belt,  143. 
"White"  clergy,  29. 
Williams,  S.  Wells,  195. 
"Winchester,"     British     man-of- 
war,  108. 
Workmen  in  oilfields,  138. 
Wright,  G.  F.,  152,  159. 

Yamschiks,  153. 
Yaroslav  the  Great,  16,  36, 
Yermak,  the  Cossack,  54,  146,  187. 
Yoshihito,  Emperor  of  Japan,  281. 
Yung    Ching,    Chinese    emperor, 
196. 

Zaporogian  Cossacks,  52. 
Zemstvos,  26. 


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